viral

See also: viŕål

English

Etymology

virus +‎ -al From the stem of virus and the suffix -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪɹəl/
• Rhymes: -aɪrəl

Adjective

viral (not comparable)

1. (virology) Of or relating to a biological virus.

   viral DNA

2. (virology) Caused by a virus.

   viral infection

3. (computing) Of the nature of an informatic virus; able to spread copies of itself to other computers.
4. (advertising and marketing) Spread by word of mouth, with minimal intervention in order to create buzz and interest.
   • 14 November 2018, Jesse Hassenger, AV Club Disney goes viral with an ambitious, overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph sequel[1]

     Still, the movie 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.

5. (of an image, video, piece of information, etc.) circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another.

Derived terms

• antiviral
• astroviral
• bovine viral diarrhea
• cardioviral
• cryptoviral
• endogenous viral element
• enteroviral
• go viral
• herpesviral
• intraviral
• neuroviral
• nonviral
• postviral
• poxviral
• previral
• proviral
• pseudoviral
• retroviral
• subviral
• superviral
• viral envelope
• virality
• viral load
• virally
• viral marketing
• viral media
• viralness

 

Translations

relating to a virus in biological sense

• Catalan: víric (ca), viral (ca)
• Czech: virový (cs)
• Esperanto: virusa
• Estonian: viirus-
• Finnish: virus-
• Galician: viral
• German: Virus-
• Greek: ιικός (el) (iikós)
• Hungarian: vírus- (hu)
• Ido: virusala (io)
• Irish: víreasach
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 바이러스의 (baireoseuui)
• Malay: virus
• Polish: wirusowy (pl)
• Portuguese: viral (pt)
• Romanian: viral (ro)
• Russian: ви́русный (ru) (vírusnyj)
• Spanish: viral (es), vírico (es)
• Turkish: viral (tr)
• Volapük: virudik
• Welsh: feirol, feirysol

caused by a virus

• Catalan: víric (ca), viral (ca)
• Czech: virový (cs)
• Estonian: viiruslik
• Galician: viral
• German: viral (de)
• Hungarian: vírusos (hu)
• Irish: víreasach
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 바이러스성 (ko) (baireoseuseong)
• Polish: wirusowy (pl)
• Portuguese: viral (pt)
• Romanian: viral (ro), virotic (ro)
• Spanish: viral (es), vírico (es)
• Turkish: viral (tr)
• Volapük: virudik

computing: of the nature of a virus

• Estonian: viiruslik
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: ви́русный (ru) (vírusnyj)

advertising and marketing: spread by word of mouth

• Catalan: viral (ca)
• Estonian: viirusturundus
• Finnish: viraali (fi)
• Malay: tular, تولر (tular)
• Portuguese: viral (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: viral (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: zarazan (sh)
• Spanish: viral (es)
• Turkish: salgın (tr)

(of an image, video, piece of information, etc.) circulating rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another

• Malay: tular
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: hōrapa

Noun

viral (plural virals)

1. (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

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [biˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [viˈɾal]

Adjective

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virals)

1. viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)

   Synonym: víric

2. viral (caused by a virus)

   Synonym: víric

3. viral (spread by word of mouth)

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, 2024
• “viral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

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French

Etymology

From virus +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʁal/

Adjective

viral (feminine virale, masculine plural viraux, feminine plural virales)

1. viral (clarification of this definition is needed)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• avril, livra, rival

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viˈʀaːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

viral (not comparable)

1. viral

Derived terms

• antiviral

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Portuguese

Etymology

From vírus +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.ˈɾaw/

Adjective

1. (microbiology) viral (relating to viruses)
2. (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
3. (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity through word of mouth)

Related terms

• vírus

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French viral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viˈral/

Adjective

viral m or n (feminine singular virală, masculine plural virali, feminine and neuter plural virale)

1. (biology) viral (relating to viruses)
2. (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
3. (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity)

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• virus

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Spanish

Etymology

virus +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈɾal/ [biˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virales)

1. viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)

   Synonym: vírico

2. viral (caused by a virus)

   Synonym: vírico

3. viral (spread by word of mouth)

Derived terms

• antiviral

Further reading

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