Petrify
/ˈpɛtrɪfaɪ/noun
To turn to stone or to make rigid with fear.
Did you know?The word comes through Latin and originally meant “to turn into stone,” so the modern fear-sense is basically a metaphorical fossil of an older, more physical spell.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pet-
“to fly or fall; the root behind a wide family of words connected to stone and falling in later branches”
Ancient Greek
Greek
pétra
“rock, crag, stone”
Latin
Latin
petra
“stone, rock”
Late Latin
Latin
petrificare
“to turn to stone, make stony”
Middle French
Old French
petrifier
“to petrify, make into stone”
Late Middle English
English
petrifien
“to turn into stone; later, to strike rigid with fear”
Modern English
English
petrify
“to turn to stone or to make rigid with fear”