Other forms: fixed, fixing, fixes
Fix is what you do to a broken thing to make it work again. A dripping tap, a bike chain that keeps slipping off, a wobbly chair leg you tighten with a screwdriver.
The word reaches much further than repair. To fix something is also to fasten it in place: the shelf was fixed to the wall with four screws. You fix a date, a time, a price, meaning you settle it, and a fixed price is one that does not move. A fix, as a noun, is a solution, and a quick fix is a fast one that will not last. Fix a match or an election and you have arranged the result dishonestly. One warning: you fix objects, not people. A doctor does not fix a patient, and you cannot fix your gym membership.
1verbfixTo repair something broken so that it works again.~16%
“He fixed the puncture at the side of the road in about five minutes.”
2verbattachTo fasten something firmly in a position so that it cannot move.~2%
“The camera was fixed to the wall above the door.”
synonyms: attach, fasten
3verbsetTo decide and settle a date, time, price or arrangement.~33%
“We fixed the meeting for ten on Thursday.”
4verbarrangeTo arrange the result of a contest or vote dishonestly.~16%
“The referee later admitted that the match had been fixed.”
5nounsolutionA solution to a problem, especially a fast or temporary one.~33%
“Tape over the crack is a fix until the new panel arrives.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 6 sentences found in the wild and placed 6 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: repair, mend
Fix came through Middle English fixen from Latin fixus, meaning immovable, steady, fixed, and behind that fīgō, to drive in, to stick, to fasten. Further back sits the Proto-Indo-European root dʰeygʷ-, to jab or stick something in, which also gave English dig. So the oldest picture is a stake driven into the ground and staying there. Repairing came later; holding still came first.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeygʷ- — to jab; stick; set
Latin
fīxus — immovable; steady; stable; fixed
Old French
*fixer
Middle English
fixen
English, today
fix
Built from
From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA