English → Latin
“infect” in Latin
vicischange; alternation; interchange; time; instance; seasonaffricōto rub on or against something; to communicate or impart by rubbingīnficiōto dip, to dunk, to submerge; to color, to dye, to imbue, to stain, to tinge; to corrupt, to poison, to spoil, to taint,
The English word infect itself goes back to Latin īnfectus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
infect
transire in alios (PROP., to pass over to others; of diseases). To infect anybody, transire in aliquem (PROP., of diseases): inficere aliquem (to infect, as it were; figuratively, of vices, etc.): others also were infected, contagio morbi etiam in alios vulgata est: to be infected in the same manner, eadem vi morbi repleri.
IMPROPR., figuratively. To infect anybody with his vices, vitiis suis inficere aliquem; vitia sua alicui allinere, affricare (the last, Sen., Ep., 7): to be infected with vices, errors, etc., infici or imbui vitiis; imbui erroribus: to be infected with wrong opinions, infici opinionum pravitate: to be infected with the desire of plundering, contagione quadam rapto gaudere: anybody is said to be infected with anything, contagio alicujus rei objectatur alicui (Liv., 9, 34; IMPROP.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for infect?
- The usual Latin words for “infect” are vicis, affricō, īnficiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.