affix

Etymology

The verb is probably borrowed from Latin affīgō (“to fasten, attach”), through its past participial stem,^[2][3] formed from ad- (“to”) and fīgō (“to fasten”),^[2][4] the latter from Proto-Indo-European *dheigw- (“to stick, fix”).^[5] Barnhart, Etymonline, Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary take it instead from Medieval Latin affīxō, a frequentative of the Latin verb,^[6][5][7][4] which the OED records from the 12th century and offers only as a comparison.^[2] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English add Old French affixer as a possible source,^[8][9][10] whereas the OED finds a rare Middle French affixer only from about 1513.^[2] Etymonline suggests that the immediate source may be a re-Latinized French spelling of afichier,^[5] which had already given English the verb affiche, in Middle English afficchen, from the late 14th century.^[5][2] The noun is borrowed from Middle French affixe (“placard; a particle added to a radical in Hebrew grammar”) and directly borrowed from Latin affīxus (“fastened to, attached to”),^[2][3] the French senses being recorded in 1582 and 1584.^[2] Its sense "appendage", which neither French nor Latin has, first followed Italian affisso (“appendage”) in Florio's Italian dictionary.^[2] Etymonline allows that the noun may come from the English verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To attach or assign a penalty, condition or duty to someone or something: about 1448, in the records of the City of Norwich.^[2] The revised OED is much earlier than Barnhart's 1533 and Etymonline's 1530s,^[6][5] and Hoad and the Shorter Oxford also place the verb in the 15th century.^[8][9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged goes further, to the 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the verb was already used of impressing a seal on a document (1456) and of fastening one thing to another (1483).^[2] The 16th century extended it to annexing land or buildings to a property (about 1503), to appointing a day (1524, now rare) and to fixing the mind on something (1553).^[2] Adding a word or signature to a text is recorded from 1590, ascribing a name or quality from 1598, and attaching blame or a stigma from 1641.^[2] The noun began with the French sense of a placard (1589), which lasted to 1886 and is equivalent to affiche.^[2] The grammatical noun appears in 1600, and the verb "to add as an affix" in 1604.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a grammatical term for something united to the end of a word, and the verb as to unite to the end, to subjoin.^[11] Later technical nouns are a name joined to a pure-bred animal's own name to show its strain (1891) and a subordinate sign in Maya writing (1895).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1448 – to attach or assign a penalty or duty.^[2]
• 1456 – to impress a seal on a document.^[2]
• 1483 – to fasten a thing physically to something.^[2]
• c. 1503 – to annex land or buildings to a property.^[2]
• 1524 – to set or appoint a day or meeting (now rare).^[2]
• 1553 – to fix the mind or desires on something.^[2]
• 1589 – noun, a placard (obsolete by 1886).^[2]
• 1590 – to add a word or signature to a text.^[2]
• 1598 – noun, an appendage or addition; verb, to ascribe a name or quality.^[2]
• 1600 – noun, in grammar, an element added to the stem of a word.^[2][3] Barnhart dates the noun to 1612, and Etymonline to the 1610s.^[6][5]
• 1604 – verb, in grammar, to add as an affix.^[2]
• 1641 – to attribute blame or a stigma.^[2]
• 1891 – noun, a name showing the strain of a pure-bred animal.^[2]
• 1895 – noun, a subordinate sign in a Maya glyph.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To attach or fasten something physically, as with nails or glue: She affixed the notice to the church door.^[12][3][2]
2. To add or append something, especially to a text: He affixed his initials to the contract.^[12][3][2]
3. To impress a seal or stamp on a document.^[3][2]
4. To attribute guilt, blame or the like to someone.^[12][2]
5. To attach a penalty or condition to something.^[3][2]
6. (grammar) To add a linguistic element as an affix.^[2]
7. (rare) To set or appoint a day or meeting.^[2]

Noun

1. (grammar) An element such as a prefix, suffix or infix added to a base or stem to form a derivative or an inflected form.^[12][3][2]
2. Something attached or added; an appendage.^[12][2]
3. A name or number combined with a pure-bred animal's own name to show its strain.^[2]
4. A subordinate sign placed beside or within the main sign of a Maya glyph.^[2]
5. (obsolete, 1589–1886) A placard; an affiche.^[2][9]

Word family

• affixable
• affixer
• affixation
• affixment
• reaffix
• affixal

Related words

• fix
• affiche
• prefix
• suffix
• infix

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins