Picture something that was once alive turning into stone — a tree that fell into mud and, thousands of years later, comes out still tree-shaped but hard and unable to grow. That image of living things frozen into rock sits under both uses.
From the word’s history
From Latin petra 'rock' (the same root as petroleum, literally 'rock oil'), so petrify is literally 'to turn into stone'. English then lent the word to fear, because a terrified person looks exactly like that: standing still, face frozen, unable to speak.
拉丁語系裡的 petra 就是「石頭」（同源的字如 petroleum「石油」，字面是「石頭裡的油」）。所以 petrify 字面上是「把某物變成石頭」，而 petrified 就是「已經被變成石頭的」。英文後來把這個字借給恐懼，是因為極度害怕的人看起來就是那個樣子：站著不動，臉是僵的，話講不出來。
Latin petra 'rock', via Greek πέτρα — standard etymology given in dictionary entries for petrify / petroleum
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原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
petrifiedadj
- 1
Having undergone the process of petrification (transformation into a stony substance); turned to stone.
- On Yule-eve alone can petrified Giants receive back their life for the space of seven hours, if one of their race embraces them, and is, at the same time, willing to sacrifice a hundred years of their own life.
- Entering Avebury from any direction is like stepping back into the past. Before the centre of the village is reached, the road passes through an immense circle of brooding stones which stand like petrified ghosts of an age about which little is known.
- 2
Extremely afraid.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- petrify
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。