fomes

== English == === Etymology === From medical Latin fōmes (“fomite”), a figurative extension of its original sense of kindling, tinder, etc. Gradually supplanted in use by fomite, a mistaken backformation of its plural form fomites, from Latin fōmitēs. === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfəʊmiːz/ (US) IPA(key): /ˈfoʊ.miːz/ === Noun === fomes (plural fomites) (obsolete, medicine) The morbid matter created by a disease. (archaic, medicine) Synonym of fomite: a substance able to communicate infection between people. (archaic, figurative) Anything which similarly facilitates the spread of something similarly deleterious. === References === “fomes”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. “fomes, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1897. === Anagrams === MEFOs == Latin == === Etymology === From Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-. Related to Latin foveō (“I keep warm”), compare Latin fōmentum (“compress, poultice; kindling; mitigation”). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈfoː.mɛs] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈfɔː.mes] === Noun === fōmes m (genitive fōmitis); third declension tinder, kindling (Medieval Latin) tinderbox (New Latin, medicine) fomite ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. === References === “fomes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “fomes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers “fomes”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. == Middle English == === Noun === fomes plural of fome == Portuguese == === Noun === fomes plural of fome == Spanish == === Adjective === fomes plural of fome