virus

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia

Wikispecies has information on:

Virus

Wikispecies

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: vīʹrəs, IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪɹəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪɹəs

Noun

virus (countable and uncountable, plural viruses or (rare) virusses or (rare) vira or (proscribed) viri or (proscribed) virii)

1. A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:virus

   • 2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 64:

     Viruses are the smallest and most simplified forms of life.

   • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:

     Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.

2. (uncountable) A quantity of such infectious agents
   • 2006, Norman E. Borlaug, Anthony Cunningham, Jane I. Guyer, Hans R. Herren, Calestous Juma, Akinlawon Mabogunje, Barbara Underwood, Montague Yudelman, chapter 1, in Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 2: Vegetables (U.S. National Research Council Consensus Study Report)‎ (non-fiction), Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, archived from the original on 2021-09-02, page xviii:

     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.

3. (informal, metonymically) A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.

   He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.

4. (archaic) Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
   • 1890, Aluísio Azevedo, The Slum:

     Brazil, that inferno where every budding flower and every buzzing bluebottle fly bears a lascivious virus.

5. (computing) 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.
   • 2004 November 15, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Strong Bad Email #118: virus”, in Homestar Runner‎, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):

     Wait a minute! Is this one of those virus emails?!

6. (computing, proscribed) Any type of malware.
7. (figurative) Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.
   • 2011, Pat Mesiti, The $1 Million Reason to Change Your Mind:

     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.

Hypernyms

• (computing): malware

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Amharic: ቫይረስ (vayräs)
• → Bengali: ভাইরাস (bhairaś)
• → Burmese: ဗိုင်းရပ်စ် (buing:rapc)
• → Dhivehi: ވައިރަސް (vairas)
• → Hindi: वायरस (vāyras)
• → Japanese: バイラス (bairasu)
• → Kannada: ವೈರಸ್ (vairas)
• → Korean: 바이러스 (baireoseu)
• → Lao: ໄວຣັສ (wai rat)
• → Malay: virus
• → Malayalam: വൈറസ് (vaiṟasŭ)
• → Maltese: vajrus
• → Sinhalese: වෛරස (wairasa)
• → Telugu: వైరస్ (vairas)
• → Thai: ไวรัส (wai-rát)
• → Urdu: وائرس

Translations

Verb

virus (third-person singular simple present viruses, present participle virusing, simple past and past participle virused)

1. (nonstandard, rare) To send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.

   I'm just going to virus anyone who tries cheating on this game.

See also

• prion

Further reading

• Plural of virus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Virus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Computer virus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Virus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiɾus/,

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin vīrus.

Noun

virus (definite accusative virusu, plural viruslar)

1. (medicine) virus
2. (computing) computer virus

Declension

Further reading

• “virus” in Obastan.com.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

virus m (invariable)

1. virus

Related terms

• viral
• víric

Cornish

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key):
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key):

Noun

virus m (plural virusys)

1. virus

References

• Cornish-English Dictionary from Maga's Online Dictionary
• Akademi Kernewek Gerlyver Kernewek (FSS) Cornish Dictionary (SWF) (in Cornish), 2018, published 2018, page 190

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian вирус (virus).

Noun

virus

1. (virology) virus

Declension

References

• “virus”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Czech

Alternative forms

• vir

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

virus m inan

1. (virology) virus (a submicroscopic, non-cellular structure)
2. (computing) virus (a type of computer malware)

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

• virus in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• virus in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• virus in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

Danish

Etymology

From Latin vīrus.

Noun

virus c or n (singular definite virussen or virusset, plural indefinite virus or virusser or vira, plural definite virussene or virusserne or viraene)

1. virus

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

From Latin vīrus. Coined in the virological sense by Martinus Beijerinck; the word had been previously used for pathogens, although not for viruses in the modern sense. The computing sense derives from English virus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈviː.rʏs/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vi‧rus

Noun

virus n (plural virussen, diminutive virusje n)

1. (microbiology) virus
2. (computer science) virus (computer virus)

Usage notes

Like most Latin borrowings, this word kept its original Latin gender (neuter); it is one of the few Dutch words ending in -us which is not masculine; cf. also corpus and opus. Marginally, use as a masculine noun is sometimes erroneously encountered, indeed based on the ending.

Derived terms

Related terms

• viroloog

Finnish

Etymology

From Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋirus/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈʋiːrus/, (proscribed)
• Rhymes: -irus
• Syllabification^(key): vi‧rus

Noun

virus

1. virus
2. (computer security) virus (computer virus)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “virus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04

Anagrams

• virsu

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʁys/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus

Derived terms

Further reading

• “virus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”).

Noun

virus m (invariable)

1. virus (pathogen)
2. computer virus

Indonesian

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia ^id

Etymology

From Dutch virus, from Latin vīrus, from rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). Doublet of bisa.

• The computing sense is a semantic loan from English virus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: vi‧rus

Noun

virus (plural virus-virus, first-person possessive virusku, second-person possessive virusmu, third-person possessive virusnya)

1. virus:
   1. (biology, virology) A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms.
   2. (computing) computer virus: 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.

Further reading

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

Interlingua

Noun

virus (plural viruses)

1. virus

Related terms

• virusal

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.rus/
• Rhymes: -irus
• Hyphenation: vì‧rus

Noun

virus m (invariable)

1. (virology) virus

Further reading

• virus in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Ladino

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvirus/

Noun

virus m (Latin spelling)

1. virus
   • 2018 February 7, Dora Niyego, “El Antisemitizmo De Oy”, in Şalom‎:

     El antisemitizmo es un prejudizio, komo un virus.

     Antisemitism is a prejudice, like a virus.

Latin

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia ^la

Etymology

Via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). Cognates include Sanskrit विष (viṣá), Ancient Greek ἰός (iós), Tocharian B wase, and Middle Irish fí. The neuter gender of this term despite its nominative singular ending in the masculine second-declension -us is possibly a relic of this term's inheritance from a neuter s-stem.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯iː.rus/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.rus/,

Noun

vīrus n sg (genitive vīrī); second declension

1. venom (a poisonous substance secreted by animals or plants)
2. a plant- or animal-sourced substance with medicinal or magical properties
3. a liquid element that makes something taste or smell bitter or acrid
   1. (transferred sense) bitterness, acrimony (of speech, manner or disposition)
4. (New Latin) a virus (infectious organism)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, nominative/accusative/vocative in -us), singular only.

• There is also the heteroclitic genitive singular vīrūs.
• When used in modern biology with the same meaning of English virus, a plural can be formed using the same suffixes of regular neuters of the 2nd declension (i.e., vīra, vīrōrum, vīrīs, vīra, vīrīs, vīra):

Second-declension noun (neuter, nominative/accusative/vocative plural in -a).

Synonyms

• (poison): venēnum

Derived terms

Descendants

References

• “uīrus” on page 2286 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

Further reading

• "virus", in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "virus". in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• virus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• "virus", in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Anagrams

• rivus

Malay

Etymology

From English virus, from Latin vīrus, from rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /virus/, /vajrəs/

Noun

virus (plural virus-virus, informal 1st possessive virusku, 2nd possessive virusmu, 3rd possessive virusnya)

1. virus:
   1. (biology, virology) A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms.

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

virus

1. virus

Inflection

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Latin vīrus.

Noun

virus n (definite singular viruset, indefinite plural virus, definite plural virusa or virusene)

1. (biology, virology) virus
2. (computing) virus (computer virus) (see datavirus)

References

• “virus” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

virus

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology

From Latin virus.

Noun

virus n (definite singular viruset, indefinite plural virus, definite plural virusa)

1. (biology, virology) virus
2. (computing) virus (computer virus) (see datavirus)

References

• “virus” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French virus, Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvirus/
• Rhymes: -irus
• Hyphenation: vi‧rus

Noun

virus n (plural virusuri)

1. virus

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

vírus m (Cyrillic spelling ви́рус)

1. (medicine) virus (DNA/RNA causing disease)
2. (computing) computer virus

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiɾus/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɾus
• Syllabification: vi‧rus

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus
2. computer virus

Derived terms

Further reading

• “virus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin vīrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈviːrɵs/
• Rhymes: -¹iːrɵs

Noun

virus n

1. (biology, virology) virus
2. (computing) computer virus

   Synonyms: datavirus, datorvirus

Declension

Derived terms

• antivirus
• virusinfektion
• virussmitta
• virussjukdom
• virusskydd
• virusstam

Related terms

• viral

See also

• bacill
• bakterie

References

• virus in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• virus in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• virus in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• birus

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English virus, from Latin vīrus. Doublet of bisa and birus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvajɾus/,

• IPA^(key): /ˈbajɾus/,

• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈviɾus/,

• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈbiɾus/,

Noun

virus (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜌ᜔ᜇᜓᜐ᜔)

1. (biology, virology) virus
2. computer virus

Further reading

• “virus”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018