Smittle

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Easily caught or spreading from one person to another, as a disease is ; to pass an infection or illness on to someone else
2. Describing something contagious that is likely to be transmitted by contact ; to transfer a disease or infection to another person or creature
3. Able to be passed on by touch or close contact, especially of an illness ; to cause someone or something to catch a sickness from another

Etymology: "Smittle" is a Scots and northern English word meaning to infect or to be contagious, and its roots reach back to Old English words for defiling and befouling. The Old English verb "smittian" meant to pollute or to befoul, and it gave Middle English "smitten," which could mean to smear, smudge, or stain. The word "smittle" is a frequentative of that Middle English form, a type of verb that repeats or intensifies an action, so it carries the sense of a stain spreading from one thing to another. The same root produced the sense of infection that "smittle" now carries. Stains and filth were understood as things that passed from one person or animal to another, and the idea of contagion grew naturally from that picture. Related forms appear in German, where "schmitzen" meant to pollute, and in Danish, where "smitte" means to infect. The word is also related to "smite," which shares the same ancient root in the sense of striking or hitting, though its path in English diverged considerably from "smittle."