different between pathogen vs contagion

English

Etymology

From patho- +? -gen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pæ??d?n?/
• Hyphenation: path?o?gen

Noun

pathogen (plural pathogens)

1. (pathology, immunology) Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• heptagon, phone tag

English

Etymology

From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin cont?gi? (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to conting? (“touch closely”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?te?d??n/
• Rhymes: -e?d??n

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. (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

Translations

See also

• quarantine
• Contagious disease on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• cognation

French

Etymology

From Latin cont?gi?.

Noun

contagion f (plural contagions)

1. contagion

Related terms

• contagieux

Further reading

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