the.com/disinfection

means The process of destroying or removing harmful germs from a surface or object, usually with chemicals or heat, so it's no longer a vector for infection.

from Built from the Latin-rooted 'infect' — from inficere, 'to dip into, taint, or stain' — plus the negating prefix 'dis-', meaning to undo that staining. 'Infect' entered English around the late Middle Ages for disease-causing taint; 'disinfect' followed centuries later, coined specifically for the act of reversing it, as germ theory gave people a concrete enemy to scrub away.