Contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, or other germs that cause disease.
From Latin 'infectus' (im- 'in' + facere 'to do/make'), literally meaning 'made into' or 'steeped in.' Originally meant morally corrupted, but by the 16th century began referring specifically to disease contamination.
Before microscopes were invented, people used 'infected' to mean morally corrupted—the idea that evil could spread through people like germs actually made people intuitive about how diseases work centuries before they understood what bacteria were!
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