infestation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English infestacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French infestacion,^[3][2][4] or directly borrowed from Late Latin infestātiō (“a troubling, disturbing, molesting”),^[5][4][6][7] a noun of action from the past participle of infestō (“to attack, disturb”),^[5][3][6][8] from infestus (“unsafe, hostile”).^[5][3] The OED notes that the Late Latin noun is found in Tertullian, and compares the French word, recorded in the 14th century.^[5] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, glossed as infection and infestation.^[9] Etymonline explains the adjective as formed from in- (“not”) and -festus, perhaps "able to be seized", which it connects with manifest.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Being infested: a Middle English prayer that God defend us from the infestation of all worms, in a text the MED dates to about 1425, in a manuscript of before 1500.^[2] The OED's first record, about 1540, is in Bellenden's translation of Boece's chronicles, in the sense of harassing or molesting.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED gives one sense, the act of infesting, assailing or harassing, and notes that it is now used especially of insects that attack plants or grain in swarms.^[5] Chambers marks the sense molestation as obsolete,^[10] and the modern use follows that of the verb infest, which Etymonline records in the sense "to swarm over, attack parasitically" from about 1600.^[3] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged also uses the word for the swarm itself, and for the state of an animal or plant carrying parasites.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – being infested, of worms.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[3]
• c. 1540 – harassing, molesting, attack, in Bellenden.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being infested, especially by parasites, insects or other pests: a lice infestation.^[8][10][4]
2. The act of infesting; an attack by swarms of insects or vermin.^[8][5][4]
3. Something that infests; a swarm.^[8]
4. (obsolete) Harassment or molestation.^[10][5]

Word family

• reinfestation

Related words

• infest
• manifest

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers