# viral
## English
### Etymology

From virus +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: vī′rəl, IPA: /ˈvaɪɹəl/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪɹəl

### Adjective

viral (not comparable)
* (virology) Of or relating to a biological virus.
    viral DNA
* (virology) Caused by a virus.
    viral infection
* (computing) Of the nature of an informatic virus; able to spread copies of itself to other computers.
* (advertising and marketing) Spread by word of mouth, with minimal intervention in order to create buzz and interest.
** 2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 85:“Efficient way to disseminate information? I don't think.” “But it is,” Cayce insists. “The model's viral. ‘Deep niche.’ The venues would be carefully selected—”
** 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 21 November 2019:Still, the movie [Ralph Breaks the Internet] manages to locate some gentle satire in our culture's love-hate relationship with the internet. At one point, Ralph must attain a certain level of viral popularity, assisted by the BuzzFeed-esque content guru Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), and the movie is savvy about how accidental spikes in fame can turn into cynical algorithm manipulation.
* (social media) Circulated rapidly and widely from one user to another.
** 2021 March 24, Charlie Warzel, quoting Anil Dash, “What Are You Paying for When You Buy a GIF for $25,000?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:The end game of that is the GoFundMe link posted beneath a viral tweet so they can pay for their health care. Being an influencer sounds fun until it’s ‘keep producing viral content to literally stay alive.’

#### Synonyms

* virous (dated)

#### Derived terms

* adenoviral
* alphacoronaviral
* antiviral
* anti-viral
* astroviral
* betacoronaviral
* bovine viral diarrhea
* bovine viral diarrhoea
* cardioviral
* coronaviral
* cryptoviral
* endogenous viral element
* enteroviral
* extraviral
* gammacoronaviral
* go viral
* haloviral
* herpesviral
* interviral
* intraviral
* lipoviral
* microviral
* micro-viral
* multiviral
* mycoviral
* myoviral
* myxoviral
* neuroviral
* nonviral
* oncoviral
* panviral
* phleboviral
* phycoviral
* phytoviral
* postviral
* poxviral
* previral
* proviral
* pseudoviral
* retroviral
* riboviral
* semiviral
* subviral
* superviral
* viral envelope
* virality
* viral load
* virally
* viral marketing
* viral media
* viralness
* viral sex
* viral vector

#### Translations
### Noun

viral (plural virals)
* (marketing) A video, image or text spread by "word of mouth" on the internet or by e-mail for humorous, political or marketing purposes.
** 2002, Nik Lever, Flash Mx Games: ActionScript for Artists, Focal Press, page 411,
    Using the Flash ActiveX control in this way allows you as a developer to create desktop characters, email virals and screensavers.
** 2003, Dave Chaffey, Total E-Mail Marketing, Elsevier, page 2,
    [M]ost virals are not seen as profiling and data collection exercises, since that would kill the impulse of forwarding to a friend.
** 2005, Russell Evans, Practical DV Filmmaking, Focal Press, page 289,
    Music company virals are becoming commonplace as costs of promos force labels to reconsider how to target more directly to consumers.

### Anagrams

* Avril, arvil, rival

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [biˈɾal]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [viˈɾal]

### Adjective

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virals)
* viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)
    Synonym: víric
* viral (caused by a virus)
    Synonym: víric
* viral (spread by word of mouth)

#### Derived terms

* viralitzar

#### Related terms

* virus

### Further reading

* “viral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “viral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “viral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

## French
### Etymology

From virus +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vi.ʁal/

### Adjective

viral (feminine virale, masculine plural viraux, feminine plural virales)
* viral (clarification of this definition is needed)

#### Derived terms

* charge virale

#### Descendants

* → Romanian: viral
* → Turkish: viral

### Further reading

* “viral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* avril, livra, rival

## German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /viˈʁaːl/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːl

### Adjective

viral (strong nominative masculine singular viraler, not comparable)
* viral

#### Derived terms

* antiviral

## Indonesian
### Etymology

From English viral.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈviral/ [ˈfi.ral]
* Rhymes: -iral
* Syllabification: vi‧ral

### Adjective

viral
* viral:
** (computing, virology) of or relating to virus; caused by a virus.
** (advertising, marketing, social media) circulated rapidly and widely from one user to another.

#### Synonyms

* (social media): tular (Standard Malay)

#### Derived terms

* memviralkan
* pemviralan
* terviralkan

### Further reading

* “viral” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From ví[rus] +‎ -al. Piecewise doublet of virusal.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /viˈɾaw/ [viˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /viˈɾal/ [viˈɾaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /viˈɾal/ [viˈɾaɫ]
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /biˈɾal/ [biˈɾaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /viˈɾa.li/
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: vi‧ral

### Adjective

viral m or f (plural virais)
* (microbiology) viral (relating to viruses)
* (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
* (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity through word of mouth)

#### Related terms

* vírus
* virusal

### References

* ↑ “viral”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
* ↑ “viral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French viral. By surface analysis, vir[us] +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /viˈral/

### Adjective

viral m or n (feminine singular virală, masculine plural virali, feminine and neuter plural virale)
* (biology) viral (relating to viruses)
* (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
* (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity)

#### Synonyms

* (relating to viruses, caused by a virus): virotic

#### Related terms

* virus

## Spanish
### Etymology

From virus +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /biˈɾal/ [biˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: vi‧ral

### Adjective

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virales)
* viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)
    Synonym: vírico
* viral (caused by a virus)
    Synonym: vírico
* viral (spread by word of mouth)

#### Derived terms

* antiviral
* viralmente

### Further reading

* “viral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French viral.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /viˈɾɑl/
* Hyphenation: vi‧ral

### Adjective

viral
* viral

#### Related terms

* virüs
* virütik