fix

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fɪks/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fixen,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Old French *fixer,^[4][2] from fix (“fixed”),^[2][5] or from Medieval Latin fīxāre,^[6][5] from Latin fīxus (“fixed, fast”), past participle of fīgere (“to fasten, drive in, pierce”),^[4][2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *dheigʷ- (“to pierce, stick in”).^[4] Some derive it from an English adjective fix, from Latin fīxus, but Barnhart notes that the adjective is recorded about 25 years after the verb.^[2] An older Middle English fichen, from French ficher, was gradually displaced by it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To set one's eyes or mind on something: about 1370, in Chaucer's An ABC.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

“To fasten, attach” is from about 1400,^[4] “to make firm or stable” from the 15th century,^[6] and to make colours permanent from the 1660s.^[4] “To settle, assign” became “to adjust, arrange” in the 1660s and then “to repair” in 1737, a use long objected to as American; one critic joked that to fix a watch should mean to stop it.^[4] “To tamper with”, as a jury or a fight, is from 1790,^[4] and the euphemism “to castrate a pet” from 1930.^[4] The noun, “an awkward position”, as in the phrase in a fix, is American from 1809 in Etymonline and 1816 in the OED.^[4][7] A dose of a narcotic is from 1934 in Etymonline and 1867 (as fix-up) in the OED,^[4][7] the position of a ship or aircraft from 1902,^[4][7] and a bribe or rigged arrangement from 1929.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – to set one's eyes or mind on.^[2][4]
• c. 1400 – to fasten, attach.^[4]
• 1660s – to arrange; to make permanent.^[4]
• 1737 – to repair.^[4]
• 1790 – to tamper with.^[4]
• 1809 – noun, a difficult position.^[4]
• 1902 – a position fix.^[4][7]
• 1930 – to neuter a pet.^[4]
• 1934 – a dose of a drug.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To fasten securely in place; to attach.
2. To repair or put right.
3. To decide or set definitely: to fix a date.
4. To direct the eyes or attention steadily on.
5. (informal) To prepare a meal or drink.
6. To arrange the outcome of dishonestly: to fix a race.
7. To make a photographic image or a dye permanent; to convert nitrogen into a stable compound.

Noun

1. A difficult situation; a predicament.
2. A determination of position, as of a ship.
3. (slang) A dose of a narcotic.
4. Something dishonestly arranged.
5. A solution or repair: a quick fix.

Word family

• fixable
• fixer
• fixability
• affix
• fixed
• fixer-upper
• fixings
• fix-it

Related words

• fixture
• fixation
• prefix
• suffix
• transfix
• crucifix

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press