Etymology

infect

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Today it means: To bring (the body or part of it) into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen), so that the pathogen begins to act on the body; (of a pathogen) to come into contact with (a body or body part) and begin to act on it. Full definition →

Middle French infect ← Latin infectus
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infect · verb, adjective1

  1. Latin · derived frominfectus
  2. Middle French · derived frominfect
  3. English todayinfect

From Middle French infect, from Latin infectus, perfect passive participle of inficiō (“dye, taint”).

infect · adjective2

  1. Latin · borrowed fromīnfectus
  2. English todayinfect

Borrowed from Latin īnfectus, equivalent to in- (“not”) + factus, perfect passive participle of faciō (“to do, make”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.