This paper examines the recent rise in the use of the Italian word superdiffusore and of its English equivalent superspreader. These words
pertain to the medical domain, and therefore they have never had a widespread diffusion in the journalistic communication until the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak. Since then, there has been an increase in their use outside of the technical context they belong to. This expansion caused a shift in the semantics of the words themselves, adding a pejorative connotation that, for us, can be related to their use in journalistic contexts in this particular period of time.
