fixation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fixacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin fīxātiō (“reduction to a fixed state”), an alchemists' word,^[4][5][6][7] a noun of action from fīxō (“to fix”),^[4][7][8] a frequentative of Latin fīgō (“to fasten, fix”),^[5][8] from Proto-Indo-European *dheigw- (“to stick, fix”).^[5] It is related to fix.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In alchemy, the reduction of a volatile substance to a solid form that resists fire: in Gower's Confessio Amantis (1393), which uses it twice.^[4][2][9][5]

Semantic evolution

The alchemical sense became a general scientific one, depriving something of its volatility or fluidity,^[4] and in the 17th century the word took the wider senses of the verb fix: a fixed place (Raleigh, 1614), the condition of being fixed (Donne, before 1631) and the action of fixing (1652).^[4][5] Johnson (1755) gave "stability, firmness" and "residence in a certain place".^[10] The 19th century added the fixing of nitrogen in biological and industrial processes (1850), the fixing of the gaze on an object (1889), the preserving of specimens for the microscope (1891) and, in surgery, the holding of a bone or organ in place (1897).^[4] The psychological sense comes from Freud: from 1910, in Brill's translation of Freud, the arrest of a person's sexual development at an early stage,^[4][5] from which the everyday sense of an obsessive interest in something grew.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1393 – in alchemy, the reduction of a volatile substance to a fixed form.^[4][2]
• 1614 – a fixed dwelling or place (now obsolete).^[4]
• 1626 – the quality of being non-volatile (obsolete by 1721).^[4]
• before 1631 – the condition of being fixed.^[4][5]
• 1652 – the action of fixing.^[4]
• 1850 – the fixing of nitrogen or another substance.^[4]
• 1889 – the fixing of the gaze on an object.^[4]
• 1891 – the fixing of biological specimens.^[4]
• 1897 – in medicine, the immobilizing of a limb or broken bone.^[4]
• 1910 – in Freudian theory, the arrest of psychosexual development.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An obsessive interest in or preoccupation with something: his fixation on vintage cars.^[11][12]
2. In psychology, a strong attachment to a person or thing formed in early childhood and persisting in later life.^[11][12][4]
3. The act of fixing or fixating, or the state of being fixed.^[11][12][3]
4. In chemistry and biology, the conversion of nitrogen or another gas into a solid or combined form.^[12][4][13]
5. The treatment of biological specimens to preserve them for study.^[4][3]
6. In medicine, the immobilization of a broken bone, joint or organ.^[4][13]
7. The holding of the gaze on an object.^[4]

Word family

• nonfixation
• nitrogen fixation

Related words

• fix
• fixate
• fixative
• fixture

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c 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 v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press