Septic means infected with germs that cause pus. A septic wound, go septic, a septic finger.
When an infection turns septic the whole body reacts, and that reaction is a medical emergency that kills quickly, so the word matters more than its everyday use suggests. A septic tank is named from the same root: bacteria break down the waste inside.
1adjectivesepticInfected with germs that cause pus.
“Her finger turned red, swollen and septic after she cut it on a rusty nail.”
septic is a state of infection.
Greek septikos means causing putrefaction, from sepein, to make rotten. Antiseptic is its opposite.
Ancient Greek
σηπτικός — characterized by putridity
English, today
septic
From Ancient Greek σηπτικός (“characterized by putridity”), from σηπτός, from σήπω.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA