virus
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.
Inflected forms:
form: viruses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: virusses
pos: noun
tags: plural
rare
form: vira
pos: noun
tags: plural
rare
form: viri
pos: noun
tags: plural
proscribed
form: virii
pos: noun
tags: plural
proscribed
form: virus
pos: noun
tags: nonstandard
plural
rare
Senses:
gloss: A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Viruses are the smallest and most simplified forms of life.
Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.
gloss: A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Meronym: virion (individual particle)
Some viruses, such as norovirus, cause sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis.
gloss: A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Under electron microscopy, a few viruses were seen floating near the cells.
gloss: A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Not much virus was detectable on a nucleic acid test; the viral load was very low.
Unless professionally inspected, they [plants] may also carry along unseen pests and diseases (particularly small insects and microbes such as virus or bacteria) whose populations might explode catastrophically in new locations.
gloss: A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
pos: noun
tags: countable
informal
metonymically
uncountable
examples: He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.
gloss: Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: Brazil, that inferno where every budding flower and every buzzing bluebottle fly bears a lascivious virus.
gloss: A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Wait a minute! Is this one of those virus emails?!
gloss: Any type of malware.
pos: noun
tags: countable
proscribed
uncountable
gloss: Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: I am tired of the mind viruses that are crippling people living in the western world — especially in my own nation. Sadly, Australia is becoming known as a nation of whingers.
Synonyms: virus
Related words: COVID-19
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: virus
lang: Albanian
word: virus
lang: Amharic
word: ቫይረስ
roman: vayräs
lang: Arabic
word: ڤِيرُوس
roman: vīrūs
lang: Arabic
word: فِيرُوس
roman: fīrūs
lang: Arabic
word: حُمَة
roman: ḥuma
lang: Arabic
word: فَيْرُوس
roman: fayrūs
lang: Arabic
word: فَيْروس
roman: fayrūs, vayrūs
lang: Armenian
word: վիրուս
roman: virus
lang: Assamese
word: ভাইৰাছ
roman: bhairas
lang: Asturian
word: virus
lang: Azerbaijani
word: virus
lang: Basque
word: birus
lang: Belarusian
word: ві́рус
roman: vírus
lang: Bengali
word: ভাইরাস
roman: bhairaś
lang: Bulgarian
word: ви́рус
roman: vírus
lang: Burmese
word: ဗိုင်းရပ်စ်
roman: buing:rapc
lang: Burmese
word: ရောဂါပိုးမွှား
roman: rau:gapui:hmwa:
lang: Catalan
word: virus
lang: Chinese Cantonese
word: 病毒
roman: beng⁶ duk⁶
lang: Eastern Min Chinese
word: 病毒
roman: bâng-dŭk
lang: Hakka Chinese
word: 病毒
roman: phiang-thu̍k
lang: Chinese
word: 病毒
roman: pēⁿ-to̍k, pīⁿ-to̍k
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 病毒
roman: bìngdú
lang: Wu Chinese
word: 病毒
roman: ⁶bin-doq
lang: Cornish
word: virus
lang: Czech
word: virus
lang: Danish
word: virus
lang: Dhivehi
word: ވައިރަސް
roman: vairas
lang: Dutch
word: virus
lang: Esperanto
word: viruso
lang: Estonian
word: viirus
lang: Faroese
word: virus
lang: Finnish
word: virus
lang: French
word: virus
lang: North Frisian
word: Wiirus
lang: West-Frisian
word: firus
lang: Galician
word: virus
lang: Georgian
word: ვირუსი
roman: virusi
lang: German
word: Virus
lang: German
word: virus
lang: Greek
word: ιός
roman: iós
lang: Gujarati
word: વિષાણુ
roman: viṣāṇu
lang: Hebrew
word: נְגִיף
roman: nagíf
lang: Hebrew
word: וִירוּס
roman: vírus
lang: Hindi
word: विषाणु
roman: viṣāṇu
lang: Hindi
word: वाइरस
roman: vāiras
lang: Hungarian
word: vírus
lang: Icelandic
word: veira
lang: Indonesian
word: virus
lang: Indonesian
word: pathik
lang: Irish
word: víreas
lang: Italian
word: virus
lang: Japanese
word: ウイルス
roman: uirusu
lang: Japanese
word: ウィルス
roman: wirusu
lang: Japanese
word: ビールス
roman: bīrusu
lang: Japanese
word: バイラス
roman: bairasu
lang: Japanese
word: 病毒
roman: byōdoku
lang: Kannada
word: ವೈರಸ್
roman: vairas
lang: Kazakh
word: вирус
roman: virus
lang: Khmer
word: វីសាណូ
roman: viisaanou
lang: Khmer
word: វីរុស
roman: viiruh
lang: Khmer
word: មេរោគ
lang: Korean
word: 바이러스
roman: baireoseu
lang: Korean
word: 병독
roman: byeongdok
lang: Korean
word: 비루스
roman: biruseu
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: vîrûs
lang: Kyrgyz
word: вирус
roman: virus
lang: Ladino
word: virus
lang: Lao
word: ໄວລັສ
roman: wai las
lang: Lao
word: ໄວຣັສ
roman: wai ras
lang: Lao
word: ເຊື້ອ
roman: sư̄a
lang: Latin
word: vīrus
lang: Latvian
word: vīruss
lang: Limburgish
word: virus
lang: Lithuanian
word: virusas
lang: Macedonian
word: вирус
roman: virus
lang: Malay
word: virus
lang: Malayalam
word: വൈറസ്
roman: vaiṟasŭ
lang: Maltese
word: vajrus
lang: Māori
word: huaketo
lang: Māori
word: wheori
lang: Marathi
word: विषाणू
roman: viṣāṇū
lang: Marathi
word: व्हायरस
roman: vhāyras
lang: Mongolian
word: вирус
roman: virus
lang: Mongolian
word: ᠸᠢᠷᠦ᠋ᠰ
roman: wirüs
lang: Nepali
word: भाइरस
roman: bhāiras
lang: Nepali
word: विषाणु
roman: bisāṇu
lang: Newar
word: विषाणु
roman: wiṣāṇu
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: virus
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: virus
lang: Occitan
word: virus
lang: Odia
word: ଭୂତାଣୁ
roman: bhutāṇu
lang: Pashto
word: ويروس
roman: wirús
lang: Iranian Persian
word: ویروس
roman: virus
lang: Iranian Persian
word: ویش
roman: viš
lang: Polish
word: wirus
lang: Portuguese
word: vírus
lang: Punjabi
word: ਵਿਸ਼ਾਣੂ
roman: viśāṇū
lang: Quechua
word: añaw
lang: Quechua
word: ch'iñi khuru
lang: Romanian
word: virus
lang: Russian
word: ви́рус
roman: vírus
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ви́рус
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: vírus
lang: Sinhalese
word: වෛරස
roman: wairasa
lang: Slovak
word: vírus
lang: Slovene
word: virus
lang: Spanish
word: virus
lang: Swahili
word: virusi
lang: Swedish
word: virus
lang: Tagalog
word: haykap
lang: Tagalog
word: birus
lang: Tajik
word: вирус
roman: virus
lang: Tamil
word: தீ நுண்மம்
roman: tī nuṇmam
lang: Tatar
word: вирус
roman: wirus
lang: Telugu
word: వైరస్
roman: vairas
lang: Thai
word: เชื้อ
roman: chʉ́ʉa
lang: Thai
word: ไวรัส
roman: wai-rát
lang: Tibetan
word: ནད་དུག
roman: nad dug
lang: Tigrinya
word: ቫይረስ
roman: vayräs
lang: Turkish
word: virüs
lang: Turkmen
word: wirus
lang: Ukrainian
word: ві́рус
roman: vírus
lang: Urdu
word: حُمَہ
roman: huma
lang: Urdu
word: وائِرَس
roman: vāiras
lang: Uyghur
word: ۋىرۇس
roman: wirus
lang: Uzbek
word: virus
lang: Vietnamese
word: vi rút
lang: Vietnamese
word: siêu vi trùng
lang: Vietnamese
word: siêu vi khuẩn
lang: Vietnamese
word: siêu vi
lang: Vietnamese
word: vi trùng
lang: Vietnamese
word: tinh độc
lang: Volapük
word: virud
lang: Welsh
word: firws
lang: Welsh
word: feirws
lang: Yiddish
word: ווירוס
roman: virus