transfix
English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle French transfixer, from Old French transfixer, from Latin transfigō (“to pierce through”), from trans- (“through”) + figō (“to pierce”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]transfix (third-person singular simple present transfixes, present participle transfixing, simple past and past participle transfixed)
- (transitive) To render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
- 1973, Norman Mailer, Marilyn: A Biography, page 45:
- But we may as well accept her story as true, for it is likely she would have been transfixed by the narcissism of the weight lifters.
- (transitive) To pierce with a sharp pointed weapon.
- 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 237:
- The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted
In swift expostulation, and the blood
Gushed round its point: I smiled, […]
- 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 52”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
- There was a little stream that ran not far away, in which he bathed, and down this on occasion would come a shoal of fish. Then the natives would assemble with spears, and with much shouting would transfix the great startled things as they hurried down to the sea.
- (transitive) To fix or impale.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe
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to pierce with a sharp pointed weapon
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to fix or impale
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Etymology 2
[edit]
Noun
[edit]transfix (plural transfixes)
- (linguistics) A discontinuous affix, typical of Afro-Asiatic languages, which occurs at more than one position in a word, i.e. a combination of prefixes, infixes and/or suffixes.
- The Arabic word مكتوب (maktūb, “written”) is built from the root [script needed] (k–t–b, “writing”) and the transfix [script needed] (ma––ū–, “passive participle”).
Usage notes
[edit]- While the above example is unambiguous, it is often debatable whether a given combination of affixes constitutes a transfix or not (in the same way that this is the case with circumfixes). For example, the verb form يَكْتُبُون (yaktubūn, “they write”) may be interpreted as containing the transfix يَــ ــُـ ــُون (ya––u–ūn), but it is also possible to see يَـ (ya-), ــُـ (-u-) and ــُون (-ūn) as individual affixes because they occur isolated of each other in the paradigm.
- The terms pattern and measure are also used with the roughly the same sense in Semitic studies. However, these are usually cited based on an exemplary root (e.g. one will say “the mafʕūl pattern”), so they do not strictly contain the transfix only.
Translations
[edit]Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms prefixed with trans-
- English terms suffixed with -fix
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Linguistics
- English terms with usage examples