infect

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French infect, from Latin infectus, perfect passive participle of inficiō (“dye, taint”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

infect (third-person singular simple present infects, present participle infecting, simple past and past participle infected)

1. (transitive) To bring (the body or part of it) into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen), so that the pathogen begins to act on the body; (of a pathogen) to come into contact with (a body or body part) and begin to act on it.

   Not everyone will be infected when an epidemic strikes.

   • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:

     Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.

   • 2020 February 18, Isabella Kwai, “How a Pharmacy Handles Mask Hoarders and Coronavirus Fears”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 February 2020, Asia Pacific‎^[2]:

     Ms. Tang’s inevitable contact with people who are ill has started to worry her. It did not help when she learned that someone living in a building near her own, in Siu Sai Wan, had been infected by the virus.

2. (transitive) To contaminate (an object or substance) with a pathogen.
3. (transitive) To make somebody enthusiastic about one's own passion, or to communicate a feeling to others, or a feeling communicating itself to others.

   Her passion for dancing has infected me.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 164:

     Guido, by way of diverting the embarrassment which seemed to infect them all, began to unfasten the packet of letters.

Synonyms

• (to contaminate): leper (rare)

Antonyms

• disinfect

Derived terms

• autoinfect
• camfecting
• coinfect
• infectability
• infectable
• infectee
• infectible
• infection
• infective
• infectome
• infector
• noninfecting
• reinfect
• superinfect
• uninfecting

Related terms

• infectious

Translations

to bring into contact with a substance that causes illness

• Afrikaans: aansteek (af)
• Arabic: أَعْدَى (ʔaʕdā)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: infestar, contaxar
• Bulgarian: заразявам (bg) (zarazjavam)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: infectar (ca), contagiar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傳染 / 传染 (zh) (chuánrǎn), 感染 (zh) (gǎnrǎn)

• Choctaw: abekʋchi
• Czech: nakazit (cs), infikovat
• Danish: smitte (da)
• Dutch: infecteren (nl), besmetten (nl)
• Esperanto: infekti
• Finnish: tartuttaa (fi)
• French: infecter (fr)
• Galician: infectar (gl)
• Georgian: ინფიცირება (inpicireba), გადადება (gadadeba), დასნებოვნება (dasnebovneba), დასენიანება (dasenianeba)
• German: anstecken (de), infizieren (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀναπίμπλημι (anapímplēmi)

• Hungarian: fertőz (hu), megfertőz (hu)
• Ido: infektar (io)
• Irish: galraigh, ionfhabhtaigh
• Italian: contagiare (it), infettare (it)
• Japanese: 感染させる (ja) (かんせんさせる, kansen saseru)
• Khmer: ឆ្លង (km) (chlɑɑng)
• Latvian: inficēt
• Lithuanian: užkrėsti
• Malay: jangkit (ms)
• Māori: whakapoke
• Norman: înfecter (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: smitta

• Occitan: infectar (oc)
• Polish: zakażać (pl) impf, zakazić (pl) pf, zarażać (pl) impf, zarazić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: infectar (pt), contagiar (pt)
• Quechua: qatiy (qu)
• Romanian: infecta (ro), contamina (ro)
• Russian: заража́ть (ru) impf (zaražátʹ), зарази́ть (ru) pf (zarazítʹ), инфици́ровать (ru) impf or pf (inficírovatʹ)
• Slovene: okužiti
• Spanish: infectar (es), contagiar (es), inficionar (es) (p. us.)
• Swedish: smitta (sv), infektera (sv)
• Tamil: தொற்று (ta) (toṟṟu)
• Thai: ติดเชื้อ (th) (dtìt-chʉ́ʉa)
• Tibetan: རྣག་བསགས (rnag bsags)
• Vietnamese: nhiễm (vi), lây (vi)
• Volapük: näfätön (vo)

to make somebody enthusiastic about one's own passion

• Bulgarian: заразявам (bg) (zarazjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感染 (zh) (gǎnrǎn)

• Dutch: infecteren (nl)
• Finnish: tartuttaa (fi)
• French: infecter (fr)
• Georgian: გადადება (gadadeba), გადაცემა (gadacema), გადასდებს (gadasdebs), გადასცემს (gadascems)
• German: anstecken (de), infizieren (de)
• Hungarian: megfertőz (hu)
• Portuguese: contagiar (pt)
• Romanian: contagia (ro)
• Russian: заража́ть (ru) impf (zaražátʹ), зарази́ть (ru) pf (zarazítʹ)
• Slovene: okužiti
• Spanish: contagiar (es), alborotar (es)
• Swedish: smitta (sv)
• Vietnamese: lan truyền (vi)

Adjective

infect (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Infected.
   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], line 187:

     And in the imitation of these twain, / Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns / With an imperial voice, many are infect.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin īnfectus, equivalent to in- (“not”) + factus, perfect passive participle of faciō (“to do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnfɛkt

Adjective

infect (not comparable)

1. (rare, grammar, of a tense or verb form) Representing an action not yet completed.

   Coordinate terms: perfect, imperfect

Anagrams

• netfic

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnfectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fɛkt/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Homophones: infecte, infectes, infects

Adjective

infect (feminine infecte, masculine plural infects, feminine plural infectes)

1. vile, loathsome
2. revolting, disgusting

Synonyms

• répugnant, dégueulasse, immonde

Descendants

• → Romanian: infect

Further reading

• “infect”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French infect, from Latin infectus.

Adjective

infect m or n (feminine singular infectă, masculine plural infecți, feminine/neuter plural infecte)

1. revolting, disgusting (about smells)
2. vile, loathsome (about humans)

Declension

Declension of infect

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	infect		infectă	infecți	infecte
	definite	infectul		infecta	infecții	infectele
genitive- dative	indefinite	infect		infecte	infecți	infecte
	definite	infectului		infectei	infecților	infectelor