fomites
US/ˈfoʊ.mɪ.tiːz/
fomites is the plural of fomes.
fomites is the plural of fomite.
Meaning of fomes
Noun
fomes (plural fomites)
- Morbid matter created by a disease.
- If this putrid ferment could be more immediately corrected, a stop would probably be put to the flux, and the fomes of the disease likewise removed.1773, Gentleman's Magazine, number 43, page 554
- Synonym of fomite: a substance able to communicate infection between people.
- Toys are common fomites.
- Synonyms:
- fomite
- Anything which similarly facilitates the spread of something similarly deleterious.
- Naturall tempers... prove a great Fomes of sinne.1658, John Owen, Of Temptation, page 126
Meaning of fomite
Noun
fomite (plural fomites)
- An inanimate object capable of carrying infectious agents (such as bacteria, viruses or prions), and thus passively enabling their transmission between hosts; common examples include towels, dishcloths, kitchenware/flatware, and laundry.
- This must be an efficacious fomite of cutaneous and pectoral disease.1859, Richard Francis Burton, “The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa...”, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, number 29, page 134
- Synonyms:
- fomes
Questions about fomites
- What is fomites the plural of?
- Fomites is the plural of fomes.
- How do you pronounce fomites?
- Fomites is pronounced /ˈfoʊ.mɪ.tiːz/ (US).
Words near fomites in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fomites (page history and authors); fomes (page history and authors); fomite (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “fomites.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fomites. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.