infect

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English infecten, also enfecten and infetten,^[2] borrowed from Latin īnfectus, the past participle of īnficiō (“to dip in, dye, stain, taint, corrupt”),^{[3][4][5][6][7]} formed from in- (“in, into”) and faciō (“to make, do, put”),^[3][4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[3][5] Barnhart and the MED see in the Middle English verb also the influence of Old French enfait and infaict, past participle forms of infaire, from the same Latin elements, which account for the Middle English forms beginning in en-, found in Chaucer.^[9][2] Middle English also had an adjective infect, tainted with disease or corrupted, from Anglo-Norman enfect and Middle French infect (“polluted, contaminated”) as well as from the Latin participle;^[4][10] Weekley thought the adjective might be the source of the verb.^[11] The OED compares Middle French infecter (1374), Spanish infectar, Italian infettare and German infizieren.^[4] The Latin verb is related to fact and fashion.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To corrupt, contaminate, or afflict with disease: about 1378, in Wycliffe's writings, according to Barnhart.^[9] The OED's first record of the verb is from before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, in the sense of filling someone with a pernicious opinion such as heresy;^[4] its adjective infect, tainted with disease, is recorded from before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[4] Etymonline dates the verb to the late 14th century, with the senses "fill with disease", "pollute" and "corrupt morally".^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the verb first meant "to put in", then "to dip in", used especially of dipping cloth into dye; from there it came to mean "stain" and then "taint, spoil", and the sense "affect with disease" developed only after classical Latin.^[12] Middle English could still use it neutrally for "tinge, darken", though mostly of bad things and especially of disease;^[3] the sense "to dye or stain" is recorded from before 1398 and in the 15th century.^[4][8] Chaucer used the verb eight times, for infecting, contaminating, invalidating and darkening.^[14] Disease was at first thought to be passed on through the air or water, and only after the discovery of microorganisms did infect come to mean passing on germs or viruses.^[9] The figurative sense of filling someone with a feeling is recorded from before 1586, in Sidney's Arcadia,^[4] although Barnhart dates it to Shakespeare's King John (1595).^[9] Johnson (1755) defined the word as acting upon by contagion, tainting, poisoning and polluting.^[15] International law took it up in the 18th century for tainting a ship or cargo with illegality,^[4][16] and computing in 1972 for affecting a system with a virus.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1378 – to corrupt, contaminate or afflict with disease, in Wycliffe's writings.^[9]
• before 1382 – adjective, tainted with disease (obsolete by 1578).^[4]
• before 1387 – to instil a pernicious opinion or belief in someone.^[4]
• before 1398 – to cause disease in a person, animal or plant; also to dye or stain, and to taint with a noxious substance.^[4]
• c. 1425 – to make air or water harmful to health.^[4]
• before 1586 – to communicate a feeling to someone.^[4] Barnhart dates this sense to 1595.^[9]
• 1605 – to affect a person or thing with some quality or foreign element.^[4]
• before 1758 – in international law, to taint a ship or cargo with illegality.^[4]
• 1972 – in computing, to affect with a virus.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pass a disease to a person, animal or plant, or to bring disease-causing germs into an organism or a wound: One sick child can infect a whole class.^[16][6][4]
2. Of a pathogen: to invade a body or an organ.^[6]
3. To contaminate or pollute something, such as air or water.^[16][4]
4. To fill someone with a feeling or mood, as if by contagion: His enthusiasm soon infected the rest of the team.^[16][4]
5. To corrupt morally; to have a bad influence on.^[16][4]
6. (computing) To affect with a computer virus or other malware.^[16][4]
7. (international law) To taint with illegality, exposing a ship or cargo to seizure.^[16][4]
8. (obsolete) To dye or stain.^[4][8]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Infected; tainted or contaminated.^[16][6][4]

Word family

• infector
• infectant
• infectedness
• infectee
• infective
• reinfect
• superinfect
• noninfecting

Related words

• infectious
• infection
• disinfect
• fact
• fashion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins