Infection

How to spell infection

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce infection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does infection mean?

1. nounThe invasion and multiplication of harmful microorganisms in the body, or the diseased condition this causes.

Infection in a sentence

• The doctor prescribed antibiotics to clear the chest infection.

• Keeping the wound clean reduces the risk of infection.

Where does infection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb inficere, which literally meant 'to put in' or 'to dip into', and by extension 'to stain, taint, or spoil'. It was built from the prefix in- ('into') joined to facere ('to make or do'), the same root that gives us 'factory' and 'affect'. The Romans used the related noun infectio for the act of dyeing or staining, and that idea of something being tainted or corrupted shifted naturally toward the sense of disease creeping into the body. English borrowed the word in the late 1300s through Old French infeccion, originally describing a moral or physical taint before settling into its modern medical meaning of microbes invading and multiplying in a body. The buried fect (from facere) is worth remembering, since it keeps the spelling regular despite the soft 'sh' sound the 'ti' produces.

How the word is built

• in- (into)
• fect (from facere: to make/do)
• -ion (noun suffix)