One way to hold this word: something has gone hard and white with cold, and you bring it back. Warmth moves in, the ice gives way, and the thing returns to how it was before the cold got into it. Every use is that same return — the chicken goes soft again, the freezer wall goes clear again, the car glass goes see-through again, and even a worn-out person goes back to feeling like themselves.
From the word’s history
The packet's etymology tree gives the word as de- + frost: Latin dē- carries the sense of taking away, and frost comes down through Old English frost. So the word is literally 'take the frost off', which is exactly what the freezer and car uses still do; the food use widens 'frost' to the whole frozen state.
封包裡的字源樹寫明這個字是 de- 加 frost：de- 來自拉丁文 dē-，帶著「去掉、拿走」的意思；frost（霜）則一路從古英語 frost 傳下來。所以它字面就是「把霜拿掉」。冷凍庫和車窗那兩支到今天都還照字面在用，食物那一支則把「霜」推廣成整個「凍住」的狀態。
Wiktionary etymology tree supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1148193458): 'From de- + frost'; Latin dē- and Old English frost.
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。