English
fomite
Fomite comes from Latin fōmes ‘tinder, kindling’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-‘to burn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōmes‘tinder, kindling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1859fomite
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-‘to burn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōmes‘tinder, kindling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1859fomite
Earliest quotation: 1859, Richard Francis Burton, The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa...: “This must be an efficacious fomite of cutaneous and…”
The story
A back-formation from fomites, plural of fomes, a borrowing of medical Latin fōmes (‘tinder, kindling’), used figuratively to evoke the analogy of a spreading infection to a spreading fire.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’
day, dear, dawn, fever, darling, daw, febrile, foment, 19 more
Today it means
noun An inanimate object capable of carrying infectious agents (such as bacteria, viruses or prions), and thus passively enabling their transmission between hosts; common examples include towels, dishcloths, kitchenware/flatware, and laundry.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- / fomite