Added 9 October 2026
infect
/ɪnˈfɛkt/ verb
Latin root: infectus Wiktionary
verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about infect at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
Communicate a disease to.
Your children have infected you with this head cold
- Contaminate with a disease or microorganism.
-
Corrupt with ideas or an ideology.
society was infected by racism
Origin
From Middle French infect, from Latin infectus, perfect passive participle of inficiō (“dye, taint”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)