different between infusion vs decoct

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French infusion, from Latin infusio, infusionem (“a pouring into, a wetting, a dyeing, a flow”), from infundo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?fju???n/
• Rhymes: -u???n

Noun

infusion (countable and uncountable, plural infusions)

1. A product consisting of a liquid which has had other ingredients steeped in it to extract useful qualities.

   An extract of rooibos and chamomile makes a refreshing infusion.

2. The act of steeping or soaking a substance in liquid so as to extract medicinal or herbal qualities.
3. The act of installing a quality into a person.
   • 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act V scene 1

     [...] but in the verity of extolment / I take him to be a soul of great article and his infusion / of such dearth and rareness as, to make true diction of / him, his semblable in his mirror, and who else would / trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.

4. (obsolete) The act of dipping into a fluid.
5. (medicine) The administration of liquid substances directly into a vein for medical purposes; perfusion.

Related terms

• infuse

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin inf?si?, inf?si?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.fy.zj??/

Noun

infusion f (plural infusions)

1. infusion (liquid product which has had other ingredients steeped in it to extract useful qualities)

Synonyms

• (liquid product): décoction, tisane

Further reading

• “infusion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Latin decoqu? (“I boil down”), from de- + coqu? (“I cook”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??k?kt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??k?kt/

Verb

decoct (third-person singular simple present decocts, present participle decocting, simple past and past participle decocted)

1. (cooking) To make an infusion.
2. (cooking) To reduce, or concentrate by boiling down.
   • 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality, Volume 2, page 54

     Her ambition had hitherto been confined to being the best of wives,—so she scolded the servants—opened no book but her book of receipts—made soup without meat—decocted cowslips, parsneps, currants, and gooseberries, which, if not good wine, were very tolerable vinegar

3. (figuratively) To heat as if by boiling.
4. (figuratively) To reduce or diminish.
5. To digest in the stomach.
6. (transitive) To devise.

Related terms

• decoction