Where does “infective” come from?
Infective comes from Middle French infectif, from Latin infectivus, an adjective formed from Latin inficere meaning to stain or taint, composed of Latin in- and facere meaning to make.
infective (English): Able to cause infection; infectious; A person who...
Definitions
- Able to cause infection; infectious; A person who...
Ancestry of “infective”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | infect | To bring into contact with a substance that... |
| 2 | Middle French | infect | — |
| 3 | Latin | infectus | not done, undone; unfinished; impossible |
| 4 | Latin | īnficiō | to dip, to dunk, to submerge |
| 5 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 6 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 7 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 8 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |