核心畫面
Picture something that can still move: melted wax, hot metal, the fat floating on a bowl of soup. Leave it, and it stops moving. What was pourable a minute ago is now one hard shape that keeps its form when you push it. Everything this word does is that one moment, when a thing loses the ability to change shape.
可以想成一樣還會流動的東西：融化的蠟、滾熱的金屬、湯上面那層油。放著不動，它就慢慢停下來了。一分鐘前還能倒得出來，現…更多收起
可以想成一樣還會流動的東西：融化的蠟、滾熱的金屬、湯上面那層油。放著不動，它就慢慢停下來了。一分鐘前還能倒得出來，現在變成一整塊，你推它也不會變形。這個字做的每件事，都是這一個瞬間：某樣東西失去了改變形狀的能力。抽象的用法只是換了對象，把同一個瞬間搬到計畫和關係上。From the word’s history
From French solidifier; by surface analysis solid + -ify, that is, 'make into a solid'. The suffix -ify is the same one in simplify and clarify, so the word says its own picture.
這個字來自法文 solidifier，拆開看就是 solid（固體的）加 -ify（使變成…）。字面就是「使變成固體」。-ify 這個尾巴在 simplify、clarify 裡也是同一個，所以這個字幾乎把自己的畫面寫在臉上。
Wiktionary entry for solidify (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1109823995:18271)