inoculate
Definitions
To introduce a vaccine or pathogen into a person or animal to produce immunity to a disease
给…接种（疫苗）；使免疫
To instil an attitude, idea, or feeling into someone's mind
灌输（思想、态度等）
To introduce microorganisms into a culture medium (in lab work)
（在培养基中）接种微生物
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedin- (in) + ocul (here oculus = a plant's 'eye,' i.e. a bud) + -ate (verb) = 'to set a bud into.' The word began in gardening: grafting a bud into a stem so it grows. Physicians borrowed the image — implanting a tiny bit of disease into the body to build immunity is like setting a bud into a branch. Hence vaccination, and figuratively 'planting' ideas into someone.
Root ocul still carries 4 more wordsWhy It Means This
The surprise is in the root: oculus here isn't a human eye but a plant's 'eye' — a bud. Renaissance gardeners 'inoculated' a tree by grafting a bud into it. Doctors then borrowed the word for implanting disease-matter to build immunity, and from there it spread to 'inoculating' someone with beliefs. Same picture every time: setting something small into a living thing so it takes root.
Usage Guide
- inoculate someone against X: the disease guarded against (inoculate children against polio).
- inoculate someone with X: the substance or, figuratively, the idea instilled (inoculate with a vaccine / with skepticism).
Note the spelling: one n, two only in 'innocuous' (unrelated). A very common misspelling is 'innoculate' — wrong.
Example Sentences
- 1.
Health workers traveled to remote villages to inoculate children against measles.
- 2.
Millions were inoculated before the flu season began.
- 3.
His grandmother had inoculated him with a deep distrust of politicians.
- 4.
In the lab, we inoculate the broth with a single bacterial colony.