# affect

> English word · Verb · IPA /əˈfɛkt/ · frequency rank #2,510

## Definitions
1. To influence or alter.
2. To move to emotion.
3. Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).
4. To dispose or incline.
5. To tend to by affinity or disposition.
6. To assign; to appoint.
7. To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.

## Etymology
From Middle English affecten, from Latin affectāre, from Latin affectus, the participle stem of Latin afficere (“to act upon, influence, affect, attack with disease”), from ad- + facere (“to make, do”).

## Easily confused with
- **aspect** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/affect-vs-aspect)
- **Affleck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/affect-vs-affleck)
- **affected** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/affect-vs-affected)
- **effect** — “Affect” is almost always the verb — to affect something is to influence it. “Effect” is almost always the noun — an effect is the result. (Each has a rarer flip side: “effect” can be a verb meaning to bring about, and “affect” a noun in psychology.) (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/affect-vs-effect)
- **abject** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/abject-vs-affect)

## Common misspellings (7)
`afect`, `afefct`, `affcet`, `affecct`, `affectt`, `affetc`, `fafect`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/affect