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infectus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word infectus

infectus1 not done

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dʰh₁-k-)
Etymology tree of infectus1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin facio
English surfeit
French affaire
French faire
French parfaire
French refaire
Latin reficio
Latin facilis
French facile
Latin factor
Latin officio
French officier
Latin facesso
Latin factus
Latin infectus
Latin officium
English office
Latin officiosus
Latin efficio
Latin efficax
Latin effectus
English effect
French effet
Latin factito

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfɛk.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɛk.tus][1]

Forms

īnfectus (feminine īnfecta, neuter īnfectum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The adjective “not done” is from Latin in- (“not”) + factus (“done, made”), the participle of faciō (“to do, make”).[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary sets up Proto-Italic *enfaktos and compares an Umbrian form of the same make-up.[1] De Vaan traces faciō to *fak-i- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-k- (“to make”), a stem from the aorist of *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is in Plautus' Mostellaria: “I make my gifts undone”, I take them back.[2] Cato asks what work has been done and what left undone.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means not made or done: of metal, unwrought, as the censors' aes infectum; of actions, not performed; and in law damnum infectum, damage that is feared but has not yet happened.[2][4] Of purposes it means not achieved, chiefly in re infecta, without accomplishing the business, as in Sallust, and infecta pace in Terence;[2] Sallust also uses it of what cannot be done, impossible.[2] It is also unfinished, as Propertius' prize demanded before the race is run, and Varro uses it of the tenses of uncompleted action.[2] Apuleius has it of words not yet coined.[2] Church Latin glosses it undone, unfinished, impossible.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of gifts undone.[2][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of work left undone.[4][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of leaving without making peace.[2][7]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of business not accomplished and of the impossible.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of imperfective tenses.[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of metal, not worked, crude, unwrought.[2][4]
  2. Not done or performed;[2][4][1] damnum infectum, damage apprehended; of a word, not coined.[2][4][1]
  3. Not achieved;[2][6][1] re infecta, without accomplishing the business; impossible.[2][6][1]
  4. Unfinished;[2][1] (grammar) imperfective.[2][1]

infectus2 dyed; a dyeing

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
23/24–79 AD, Pliny the Elder
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dʰh₁-k-)
Etymology tree of infectus2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin inficio
Latin infectus

Forms

īnfectus m (genitive īnfectūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

The noun “dyeing” is from Latin īnficiō (“to dye, stain”) + -tus, a fourth-declension noun of action; the same form is the participle of that verb, dyed, stained or tainted.[2][4][3][1] The verb is in- (“in”) with faciō (“to make”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder promises to speak of the dyeing of other wools.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun is post-Augustan and rare, found in the ablative in Pliny the Elder.[4] The participle means dyed or stained, and in Church Latin spoiled or infected.[4][6] A late noun of the same form in Oribasius means weakness.[3]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of dyeing wool.[2][7]
  • c. 325–c. 403 AD – Oribasius uses a noun of the same form for weakness.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The action of dyeing.[2][4][6][1]
  2. (Late Latin) Weakness, debility.[3]

Participle

  1. Dyed, stained; spoiled, infected.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Infectus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/infectus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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