'infection-preventing' is a compound formed from 'infection' and 'preventing'. 'Infection' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'infectio'/'inficere', where 'in-' meant 'into' and 'facere'/'ficere' meant 'to make/do'. 'Preventing' comes from Latin 'praevenire', where 'prae-' meant 'before' and 'venire' meant 'to come'.

'infection' passed into English via Old French (e.g. 'infeccion') and Middle English to become the modern word 'infection'. 'Prevent' came into English from Old French 'prevenir' (via Latin 'praevenire') and developed into the modern English 'prevent' and its participle 'preventing'.

Originally 'infect' had senses of 'to taint or contaminate' and 'prevent' literally meant 'to come before'. Over time 'infection' came to denote invasion by disease-causing agents and 'prevent(ing)' took on the sense of stopping or averting that process; together they now mean 'acting to stop infection'.