late 14c., fixacion, an alchemical word, "action of reducing a volatile substance to a permanent bodily form," from Medieval Latin fixationem (nominative fixatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin fixare, frequentative of figere "to fasten, fix" (from PIE root *dheigw- "to stick, fix"). Meaning "condition of being fixed" is from 1630s. Used in the Freudian sense since 1910.
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