infective
/ɪnˈfɛktɪv/adjective, noun
infective is spelled I-N-F-E-C-T-I-V-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, infective means “Able to cause infection; infectious” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in infective?
| Letters | 9: I-N-F-E-C-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,913th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is infective?
Infective appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce infective?
- /ɪnˈfɛktɪv/
Infective has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-infective.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of infective
- more infective comparative
- most infective superlative
- infectives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does infective mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Able to cause infection; infectious
noun
- 1
A person who is capable of spreading a disease by infecting others.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Infective in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense able to cause infection:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | infektiös |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does infective come from?
From infect + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).