The word plasticity etymologically spans both sculpting and explosion

Evidence

But it must be remarked that plasticity is also the capacity to annihilate the very form it is able to receive or create. We should not forget that plastique, from which we get the words plastiquage and plastiquer, is an explosive substance made of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose, capable of causing violent explosions. We thus note that plasticity is situated between two extremes: on the one side the sensible image of taking form (sculpture or plastic objects), and on the other side that of the annihilation of all form (explosion). — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 40

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Etymology of plastique/explosive grounds the annihilation-of-form sense in the word itself.
• SHARE: The plastique/plastic-surgery etymology is a fun, specific tidbit for anyone into etymology or neurology.

Related

• Plasticity spans the capacity to give form and to explode all form. (similarity 0.89)
• Plasticity spans both taking on form and annihilating it (similarity 0.88)
• The word ‘plastic’ spans from form-giving sculpture to the annihilation of form in explosives (similarity 0.87)
• The word plasticity spans crystallization of form and annihilation of form (similarity 0.86)
• Plasticity spans both the creation and the explosive annihilation of form. (similarity 0.86)
• Brain plasticity includes a capacity to destroy form, not only create it (similarity 0.80)
• Plasticity names the dialectical union of form-seizure and form-annihilation. (similarity 0.79)
• Plasticity both solidifies and explodes a rigidified past (similarity 0.78)