Meaning

noun enforced isolation of patients suffering from a contagious disease in order to prevent the spread of disease

noun isolation to prevent the spread of infectious disease

verb place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons

originFrom Medieval Latin quarentena and quarentīna (“40-day period, Lent”) via Middle English quarentine, Norman quarenteine, French quarenteine, and Italian quarantina, via proposed Late Latin *quaranta + -ēna (forming distributive adjectives), from Latin quadrāgintā (“four tens, 40”). In reference to French politics, calque of French quarantaine after edicts of Louis IX. In reference to a severance…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0