Standard Lemma guide

fomite

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • UK: /ˈfəʊmʌɪt/
  • US: /ˈfoʊmaɪt/
  • rhymes with -əʊmʌɪt

1

noun

Meaning 1

An inanimate object capable of carrying infectious agents (such as bacteria, viruses or prions), and thus passively enabling their transmission between hosts; common examples include towels, dishcloths, kitchenware/flatware, and laundry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any inanimate object (as a towel or money or clothing or dishes or books or toys etc.) that can transmit infectious agents from one person to another

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vehicle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: object, physical object

History

Etymology

A back-formation from fomites, plural of fomes, a borrowing of medical Latin fōmes (“tinder, kindling”), used figuratively to evoke the analogy of a spreading infection to a spreading fire.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: fòmit — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 傳染物 /传染物 (chuánrǎnwù) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 媒介物 (méijièwù) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病媒 (bìngméi) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Dutch: fomiet — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Finnish: fomiitti — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • French: vecteur passif — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • French: fomite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • German: Fomite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • German: Infektionsträger — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Irish: fóimít — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Italian: fomite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Japanese: 媒介物 (baikaibutsu) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Korean: 매개물 (maegaemul) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Portuguese: fómite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Portuguese: fômite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Romanian: fomite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Russian: возбуди́тель (vozbudítelʹ) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Russian: перено́счик (perenósčik) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Russian: посре́дник (posrédnik) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Russian: фомиты (fomity) — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Spanish: fómite — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents
  • Turkish: fomit — inanimate object capable of transferring infectious agents