# infect
## English
### Etymology 1

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

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪnˈfɛkt/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛkt

#### Verb

infect (third-person singular simple present infects, present participle infecting, simple past and past participle infected)
* (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, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-02-18, Asia Pacific‎: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.
* (transitive) To contaminate (an object or substance) with a pathogen.
* (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

* infection
* infectible
* infectome

##### Related terms

* infectious

##### Translations
#### Adjective

infect (not comparable)
* (obsolete) Infected.
** c. 1602, 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: /ˈɪnfɛkt/
* Rhymes: -ɪnfɛkt

#### Adjective

infect (not comparable)
* (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: /ɛ̃.fɛkt/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

infect (feminine infecte, masculine plural infects, feminine plural infectes)
* vile, loathsome
* 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 and neuter plural infecte)
* revolting, disgusting (about smells)
* vile, loathsome (about humans)