Etymograph

English

thixotropic

Thixotropic comes from Ancient Greek θίξις ‘touch’, and goes back to θιγγάνω.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθιγγάνω1‘to touch, grasp’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθίξις2thíxis‘touch’root of θιγγάνω
  3. Englishtodaythixotropic2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek θίξις
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English thixotropic

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθιγγάνωWiktionary, Ancient Greek θίξις‘to touch, grasp’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθίξιςWiktionary, English thixotropicthíxis‘touch’root of θιγγάνω
  3. EnglishtodaythixotropicWiktionary, English thixotropic

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to mold’

figure, lady, fiction, paradise, dairy, dough, faint, fictitious, dey, effigy, feign, figment, feint, 25 more

Today it means

adj Becoming a fluid when agitated but solid or semi-solid when allowed to stand.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thixotropic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek θίξις. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek θιγγάνω / thixotropic

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