To contaminate something or someone with harmful bacteria, viruses, or disease, or to spread negativity to others.
From Latin 'infectus' meaning 'to taint or dip into,' derived from 'inficere' combining 'in-' and 'ficere' meaning 'to make.' The word evolved from literal contamination to metaphorical emotional contamination.
Viruses that infect us actually outnumber human cells in our bodies—we're more virus than human by cell count, yet most of them don't hurt us and some might actually be important to our survival.
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