contagion

English

contagion on Wikipedia

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/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -eɪdʒən

Noun

contagion (countable and uncountable, plural contagions)

A disease spread by contact.
The spread or transmission of such a disease.
Synonym: infection
(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, 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^[1]:
    And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.
(finance) A recession or crisis developed in such manner.
(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

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 (it) m
Maori: mate rere, mate mauhoro
Navajo: naałniih
Piedmontese: contagi m

transmission of a contagious disease

Belarusian: інфе́кцыя f (infjékcyja), заражэ́нне n (zaražénnje), інфэ́кцыя f (infékcyja), зара́за f (zaráza)
Bulgarian: инфе́кция (bg) f (infékcija), зара́зяване (bg) n (zarázjavane)
Catalan: contagi (ca) m, contagió f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 傳染 / 传染 (cyun⁴ jim⁵)

Mandarin: 傳染 / 传染 (zh) (chuánrǎn)
Czech: nákaza (cs) f
Dutch: besmetting (nl)
Estonian: nakkus
Finnish: tartunta (fi), tarttuminen (fi)
French: contagion (fr) f
Galician: contaxio (gl) m
German: Ansteckung (de) f
Greek: μεταδοτική ασθένεια (metadotikí asthéneia)
Hindi: छूत f (chūt)
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), зара́за (ru) f (zaráza)
Slovak: nákaza f
Spanish: contagio (es) m
Tagalog: lalin
Turkish: salgın (tr)
Ukrainian: інфе́кція f (infékcija), зара́за (zaráza)
Urdu: چُھوت f (chūt)

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