The story
- New Latin · borrowed fromīnfectiōsus
- English todayinfectious
Borrowed from New Latin īnfectiōsus. By surface analysis, infect + -ious.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: Caused by an agent that enters the host's body (such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or prion); often, also, transmitted among hosts via any of various routes (for example, contact, droplet-borne, airborne, waterborne, foodborne, fomite-borne, or bloodborne). Full definition →
Borrowed from New Latin īnfectiōsus. By surface analysis, infect + -ious.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.