ˈfä-mə-ˌtēz
ˈfō-
Did you know?
"Disinfectant on your hands keeps us healthier and fomites no longer foment as much disease." Australian newspaper contributor Peter Goers was likely going for alliteration when he paired up fomite and foment, a verb meaning "to promote the growth or development of"—but, whether he realized it or not, the words fomite and foment are related. Fomite is a back-formation of fomites, the Latin plural of fomes, itself a word for "tinder." (Much like tinder is a catalyst of fire, a fomite can kindle disease.) Fomes is related to the Latin verb fovēre ("to heat"), an ancestor of foment.
Examples of fomite in a Sentence
Dan Perry, Newsweek, 4 Jan. 2025
Avian flu can be transmitted by fomites (contaminated surfaces), droplets, and aerosols.
—Judy Stone, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
In emails, Mid-Michigan health officials hypothesized that the cats acquired the virus from droplets, known as fomites, on their owners’ hands or clothing.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2024
Colds are spread two ways: from person to person and by contaminated surfaces called fomites.
—Sarah Bradley, Health, 6 Oct. 2024
Hand contacts with fomites and mucous membranes are a potentially dangerous combination.
—Sabrina Sholts, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2024
Then the pathogens can survive and remain infectious on fomites for varying lengths of time, from a few hours in some cases to several months in others depending on variables related to the pathogen, the fomite and their environmental conditions.
—Sabrina Sholts, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2024
Contracting mpox through indirect contact with fomites, including clothes, bed linens and towels, is low.
—Noor Adatia, Dallas News, 1 June 2023
At this point, the weight of the evidence suggests that the monkeypox virus can exist as an aerosol — either as a respiratory particle or as a fomite that’s been resuspended — but that inhaling these aerosols is not a major factor driving the epidemic.
—Megan Molteni, STAT, 12 Aug. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Fomite.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fomite. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
fomite
noun
ˈfōm-
M. F. ReinPediatric Report's Child Health Newsletter
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