infection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈfek.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English infeccioun, borrowed from Old French infeccion (“contamination, poisoning”) and directly borrowed from Late Latin īnfectiō (“infection, contagion”) (accusative infectionem),^[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from īnfectus, past participle of īnficere (“to dip in, stain, taint, spoil”) (see infect).^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Affecting something injuriously, as with disease: 1398 in the OED;^[7] an infectious disease or contaminated condition in the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The contamination of air or water with disease, and the agent or germ that carries it, are from 1412–20,^[7] the first now rare.^[4] The communication of disease, especially through air or water, as distinguished from contagion by bodily contact, is from the 1540s,^[2][7] and an infectious disease or epidemic from 1563.^[7] Moral contamination by evil influences is from before 1529,^[7] and the spreading of heresy or sedition from 1529.^[7] In international law the contamination of a ship or cargo by illegality is from 1879.^[7] The modern medical sense, invasion of the body by harmful microorganisms that multiply in it, followed the germ theory.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1398 – injurious affection.^[7]
• 1412–20 – contamination of air or water.^[7]
• 1529 – moral or political contamination.^[7]
• 1540s – transmission of disease by air or water.^[2][7]
• 1563 – an infectious disease.^[7]
• 1879 – in international law.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The invasion of the body by harmful microorganisms, such as bacteria or viruses, and the condition that results.
2. An infectious disease.
3. The act of infecting, or the state of being infected.
4. The spreading of an influence or feeling from one person to another.

Word family

• autoinfection
• coinfection
• noninfection
• postinfection
• preinfection
• reinfection
• subinfection
• superinfection

Related words

• infect
• infective
• infectious
• disinfect
• affect
• effect
• fact

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins