»thixotropic

thixotropic is a medical term meaning "The property exhibited by certain gels of becoming fluid when stirred or shaken and returning to the semisolid state upon standing," it also describes the liquefaction of the earth during a 'quake, and turns up in the oilfield glossary. It comes from the Greek: thixis, n., the act of touching; and thinganein, v., to touch)