Etymology

contagion

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Today it means: A disease spread by contact. Full definition →

Latin contāgiō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcontāgiō“a touching, contact, contagion”
  2. English todaycontagion

From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin contāgiō (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to contingō (“touch closely”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.