contagion

contagion

English

Etymology

From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin contāgiō (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to contingō (“touch closely”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈteɪd͡ʒən/
• Rhymes: -eɪdʒən

Noun

contagion (countable and uncountable, plural contagions)

1. A disease spread by contact.
2. The spread or transmission of such a disease.

   Synonym: infection

3. (figuratively, by extension) The spread of anything likened to a contagious disease.
   1. The passing on of manners or behaviour through a closed community or household.
      • 1838 (date written)​, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, OCLC 1000392275, page 242:

        It is true, they were a good-natured and respectable set of servants, who had lived so long in their places that they might be said, by a happy contagion, to have caught kindly feelings from their superiors, and, having assisted in saving the lives of the young ladies, gave them an interest in their pleasures, and a real delight in seeing those fair young faces lighted up with joy.

   2. (finance) The spread of (initially small) shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, to other financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy.
      • 2011, George Soros, Project Syndicate, Germany Must Defend the Euro:

        And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.

4. (finance) A recession or crisis developed in such manner.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• anticontagion
• Asian contagion
• behavioral contagion
• behavioural contagion
• contagionism
• contagionist
• social contagion

 

Related terms

• contagious

Translations

disease spread by contact

Bulgarian: заразна болест f (zarazna bolest) Dutch: besmettelijke ziekte f Finnish: tartuntatauti (fi), tarttuva tauti French: contagion (fr) f German: ansteckende Krankheit f Irish: galar tógálach m, galar gabhálach m Italian: contagio m Maori: mate rere, mate mauhoro Navajo: naałniih Piedmontese: contagi m

transmission of a contagious disease

Belarusian: інфе́кцыя f (infjékcyja) Bulgarian: инфе́кция (bg) f (infékcija), зара́зяване (bg) n (zarázjavane) Catalan: contagi (ca) m, contagió f Chinese: Mandarin: 傳染／传染 (zh) (chuánrǎn) Czech: nákaza (cs) f Dutch: besmetting (nl) Finnish: tartunta (fi), tarttuminen (fi) French: contagion (fr) f Galician: contaxio m German: Ansteckung (de) f Greek: μεταδοτική ασθένεια (metadotikí asthéneia) Hungarian: ragály (hu), fertőzés (hu) Ido: kontagio (io) Irish: tógáil f Italian: contagio (it) m Japanese: 伝染 (ja) (でんせん, densen) Korean: 전염(傳染) (ko) (jeonyeom) Latin: contāgiō f Occitan: contagion (oc) Polish: zarażenie (pl) n Portuguese: contágio (pt) m Romanian: contagiune (ro) f Russian: инфе́кция (ru) f (infékcija), зара́зная боле́знь f (zaráznaja boléznʹ) Spanish: contagio (es) m Tagalog: lalin Turkish: salgın (tr) Ukrainian: інфе́кція f (infékcija), зара́за (zaráza)

spread of anything harmful

Finnish: leviäminen (fi)

finance: situation in which a shock spreads

Finnish: leviäminen (fi)

finance: resulting recession or crisis

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Irish: (please verify) tógálacht f, (please verify) gabhálacht f

See also

• quarantine
• Contagious disease on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• cognation

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French

Etymology

From Latin contāgiō.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

contagion f (plural contagions)

1. contagion

Related terms

• contagieux

Further reading

• “contagion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.