Megterjed

Megterjed is a Hungarian verb meaning to become widespread or to spread widely. It is formed from the verb terjed (to spread) with the prefix meg-, which gives a perfective sense and emphasizes the completion or extent of the spreading. The action is intransitive, and the subject is whatever spreads through a population, area, or medium.

Megterjed is typically used for information, rumors, diseases, technologies, trends, or cultural phenomena that propagate over time. The expression focuses on the breadth of distribution rather than the initiatory act. In contrast, elterjed is often used in a more neutral sense of widespread use, while megterjed can carry a nuance of rapid or notable expansion.

Grammatical notes: megterjed is a perfective verb. Its past tense is megterjedt; present tense third person singular can appear as megterjed (e.g., A hír megterjed az egész városban), though in speech the past megterjedt is common. Future forms use standard Hungarian future constructions, or phrases like megterjedni fog. The related noun megterjedés denotes the process of spreading, and elterjedés is a closely related term for widespread distribution.

Examples:

- A hír gyorsan megterjedt az egész országban.

- A vírus megterjedt kontinensméretekben is.

- A technológia megterjedéséről hosszú távú tanulmányok szólnak.

Megterjedés is a commonly used noun form to discuss the spread as a phenomenon, while elterjedés remains a widely used alternative for neutral description.