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infect

/ɪnˈfɛkt/

spread disease or contaminate something

From Latin in (in) + Latin fac (make).

verb
verb
adjective
in
Latin
AI-inferred
in-
prefix meaning 'in, into'
Latin
Verified
infectus
the participial form built from in- + facere, with the sense 'stained, dyed, tainted'

from Latin infectus , past participle of inficere "to stain, tinge, dye," also "to corrupt, stain, spoil," literally...

+1 more source
fac
Latin
AI-inferred
facere
to make, do, perform
Latin
Verified
infectus
literally 'put into, dipped into' in the sense of coloring or staining

from Latin infectus , past participle of inficere "to stain, tinge, dye," also "to corrupt, stain, spoil," literally...

+1 more source
Combined
infectus
Latin participle meaning 'stained, dyed, tainted'; later borrowed into Middle French infect and then English infect
Middle French
Verified
infect
borrowed into French usage and preserved the sense of corruption and contamination

from Latin infectus , past participle of inficere "to stain, tinge, dye," also "to corrupt, stain, spoil," literally...

+1 more source
Middle English
Verified
infect
entered English in the late 14th century, first for disease and corruption, then for moral taint

from Latin infectus , past participle of inficere "to stain, tinge, dye," also "to corrupt, stain, spoil," literally...

+1 more source
Modern English
infect
“

This word began life as a dye pot, not a hospital ward. In Latin, infectus was tied to inficere, which meant something like “put into” or “dip into,” the way cloth disappears into a vat and comes up altered, stained, permanently changed. That same make/do root, facere, also sits behind cousins like fact, factory, and facilitate, while the in- prefix gives the whole thing a creepy little shove inward. By the late 1300s in English, the sense had slid from dyeing fabric to corrupting bodies and souls, which is a very medieval kind of metaphor: if a color can soak in, so can disease. The jump from “tint” to “transmit illness” is why infect still feels like a word that spreads before it arrives.

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