It’s flu season in the northern hemisphere, that time of year when we become more vulnerable to airborne contagious diseases.
The Hebrew word for contagious is מידבק. In the case of a disease, the grammatically feminine word מחלה, contagious is מידבקת.
In context:
שפעת היא בהחלט מחלה מידבקת.
The flu (influenza) is certainly a contagious disease.
These words, מידבק and מידבקת, are noun forms of להידבק, a התפעל verb. However, if you want to say that you’ve caught a disease, you would use the נפעל verb להידבק:
מאוחר מדי. נדבקתי.
Too late. I got infected.
Wait a second… להידבק is both a התפעל verb and a נפעל verb? Yes. Originally, להידבק – to be contagious, was spelled להתדבק, but try pronouncing it. It ends up sounding like להידבק, and the spelling… well, stuck. To be sure, להידבּק meaning to be contagious has a hard B sound, while להידבק meaning to infect has a soft V sound. But just like you might be a bit confused now, so are most Israelis who just say מידבק with a hard B for both meanings.
If someone has gotten me sick, the verb is להדביק (to infect), a הפעיל verb.
In context:
הדבקת אותי!
You’ve infected me! (to a male)
The root of these words is ד.ב.ק, which also forms the word for glue, דבק.
