virus

See also: Virus, virüs, vírus, vīrus, vīruss, and -virus

English

Etymology

From Latin virus (“poison, slime, venom”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: vīʹrəs, IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪɹəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪɹəs

Noun

virus (plural viruses or viri)

Wikipedia

Wikispecies

The virions that carry the Marburg virus

1. (archaic) Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
2. (pathology, microbiology, 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.
   • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, 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.

   • 2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2001, p. 64)

     Viruses are the smallest and most simplified forms of life.

3. A disease caused by these organisms.

   He caught a virus and had to stay home from school.

4. (computing) A program which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as CDs, USB drives, floppy disks, etc., often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.

Usage notes

Viri is a nonstandard plural and is only used jocularly.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:virus

Hyponyms

• DNA virus
• RNA virus

Derived terms

• virion
• viroid
• viral

Translations

infectious organism

• English:

  Old English: clēofanwyrm

• Afrikaans: virus
• Albanian: virus (sq) m
• Alemannic German: virus
• Arabic: ڤِيرُوس m (vīrūs), فِيرُوس m (fīrūs), حُمَة f (ḥuma)
• Armenian: վիրուս (virus)
• Asturian: virus m
• Azeri: virus (az)
• Basque: birus
• Belarusian: ві́рус m (vírus)
• Bengali: ভাইরাস (bha'iras)
• Bulgarian: ви́рус (bg) m (vírus)
• Burmese: ဗိုင်းရပ်စ် (buing:rapc), ရောဂါပိုးမွှား (rau:gapui:hmwa:)
• Catalan: virus (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 病毒 (beng6 duk6)

  Mandarin: 病毒 (zh) (bìngdú)

  Min Nan: 病毒 (zh-min-nan) (pēⁿ-to̍k, pīⁿ-to̍k)

• Czech: virus (cs) m
• Danish: virus (da) c or n
• Dhivehi: ވައިރަސް (vairas)
• Dutch: virus (nl) n
• Esperanto: viruso
• Estonian: viirus
• Faroese: virus
• Finnish: virus (fi)
• French: virus (fr) m
• Galician: virus (gl) m
• Georgian: ვირუსი (virusi)
• German: Virus (de) n, m
• Greek: ιός (el) m (iós)
• Gujarati: વિષાણુ (viṣāṇu)
• Hebrew: נְגִיף (he) m (n'gif), וִירוּס (he) m (virus)
• Hindi: वायरस (vāyras), विषाणु (viṣāṇu)
• Hungarian: vírus (hu)
• Icelandic: veira (is) f
• Indonesian: virus (id)
• Irish: víreas
• Italian: virus (it) m
• Japanese: ウイルス (ja) (uirusu), ウィルス (ja) (wirusu), ビールス (bīrusu), バイラス (bairasu), 病毒 (ja) (びょうどく, byōdoku)
• Kannada: ವೈರಸ್ (kn) (vairas)
• Kazakh: вирус (vïrws)
• Khmer: វីសាណូ (viisaanoo), វីរុស (viirus)
• Korean: 바이러스 (ko) (baireoseu)

• Kyrgyz: вирус (virus)
• Lao: ໄວຣັສ (wai rat)
• Latin: virus n
• Latvian: vīruss m
• Lithuanian: virusas m
• Macedonian: ви́рус m (vírus)
• Malay: virus
• Malayalam: വൈറസ് (ml) (vaiṟas)
• Maltese: vajrus m
• Maori: huaketo
• Marathi: विषाणू (viṣāṇū)
• Mongolian: вирус (virus)
• Nepali: विषाणु (viṣāṇu)
• Newari: विषाणु (viṣāṇu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: virus n

  Nynorsk: virus (nn) n

• Occitan: virus m
• Persian: ویروس (fa) (virus)
• Polish: wirus (pl) m
• Portuguese: vírus (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਵਿਸ਼ਾਣੂ (viśāṇū)
• Quechua: añaw, ch'iñi khuru
• Romanian: virus (ro)
• Russian: ви́рус (ru) m (vírus)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вирус m

  Roman: virus (sh) m

• Sinhalese: වෛරස (vairasa)
• Slovak: vírus m
• Slovene: virus (sl) m
• Spanish: virus (es) m
• Swahili: virusi (sw)
• Swedish: virus (sv) n
• Tagalog: haykap, birus
• Tajik: вирус (virus)
• Tamil: தீ நுண்மம் (tī nuṇmam)
• Tatar: вирус (wirus)
• Telugu: వైరస్ (vairas)
• Thai: เชื้อ (th) (chéua), ไวรัส (wairát)
• Turkish: virüs (tr)
• Turkmen: wirus
• Ukrainian: ві́рус m (vírus)
• Urdu: حُمہ (huma), وائرس (vāyras)
• Uzbek: virus (uz)
• Vietnamese: virus (vi)
• Volapük: virud
• Welsh: feirws
• Yiddish: ווירוס m (virus)

disease

• Finnish: virus, virustauti

computer virus

• Arabic: فِيرُوس كَمْبْيُوتَر m (fīrūs kambyūtar)
• Armenian: վիրուս (virus), համակարգչային վիրուս (hamakargčʿayin virus)
• Azeri: virus proqramları
• Belarusian: кампу́тарны ві́рус m (kampútarny vírus)
• Bulgarian: компю́търен ви́рус m (kompjútǎren vírus)
• Burmese: ကွန်ပျူတာ ဗိုင်းရပ်စ် (kwanpyuta buing:rapc)
• Catalan: virus (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 病毒 (zh) (bìngdú), 電腦病毒 (zh), 电脑病毒 (zh) (diànnǎo bìngdú)

• Czech: počítačový virus m
• Dutch: virus (nl) n, computervirus (nl) n
• Estonian: arvutiviirus
• Finnish: virus (fi), tietokonevirus
• French: virus informatique m
• Galician: virus (gl) m
• German: Computervirus (de) m, n
• Hebrew: וִירוּס מַחְשֵׁב m (virus makhshev)
• Hungarian: számítógépes vírus, számítógépvírus
• Japanese: コンピューター・ウイルス (konpyūtā uirusu)
• Korean: 컴퓨터 바이러스 (keompyuteo baireoseu)
• Macedonian: сметачки вирус m (smetački virus)
• Maori: ngārara rorohiko

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: datavirus n, virus n

  Nynorsk: datavirus n, virus n

• Polish: wirus komputerowy m
• Portuguese: vírus (pt) m, vírus de computador m
• Romanian: virus (ro) m, virus de computer m, virus computeric m, virus informatic m
• Russian: ви́рус (ru) m (vírus), компью́терный ви́рус m (kompʹjútɛrnyj vírus)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: компјутерски вирус m, рачунални вирус m, рачунарски вирус m

• Sinhalese: පරිගණක වෛරස (parigaṇaka vairasa)
• Slovak: počítačový vírus m
• Slovene: računalniški virus m
• Spanish: virus (es) m
• Swedish: datorvirus (sv), datavirus (sv), virus (sv)
• Thai: ไวรัส (wairát), ไวรัสคอมพิวเตอร์ (wai-rát kom-piw-dtêr)
• Turkish: virüs (tr), bilgisayar virüsü
• Ukrainian: комп'ю́терний ві́рус m (kompʺjúternyj vírus)
• Vietnamese: virus máy tính
• Volapük: nünömavirud

See also

• prion

External links

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

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Asturian

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus

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Catalan

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus

Related terms

• viral
• víric

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Czech

Noun

virus m

1. virus

Declension

Declension of virus

	singular	plural
nominative	virus	viry
genitive	viru	virů
dative	viru	virům
accusative	virus	viry
vocative	vire	viry
locative	viru	virech
instrumental	virem	viry

Related terms

• virový
• antivirový

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Danish

Noun

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

1. virus

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Dutch

Wikipedia ^nl

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

virus n (plural virussen, diminutive virusje n)

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

Descendants

• norovirus

Usage notes

Like most Latin borrowings, this word kept its original Latin gender (neuter); it is one of the few words ending in -us which is not masculine.

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Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʋirus]

Noun

virus

1. virus

Declension

Inflection of virus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)

		singular	plural
nominative		virus	virukset
accusative	nom.?	virus	virukset
	gen.	viruksen
genitive		viruksen	virusten viruksien
partitive		virusta	viruksia
inessive		viruksessa	viruksissa
elative		viruksesta	viruksista
illative		virukseen	viruksiin
adessive		viruksella	viruksilla
ablative		virukselta	viruksilta
allative		virukselleˣ	viruksilleˣ
essive		viruksena	viruksina
translative		virukseksi	viruksiksi
instructive		—	viruksin
abessive		viruksetta	viruksitta
comitative		—	viruksineen

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus

External links

• "virus" in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Galician

Etymology

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

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus (pathogen)
2. computer virus

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Italian

Noun

virus m

1. virus

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Latin

Wikipedia ^la

Etymology

Via rhotacism from Proto-Indo-European *wisos, *wīsos, *wiHsos. Cognates include Sanskrit विष (víṣa), Ancient Greek ἰός (iós), and and Tocharian B wase.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈwiː.rus/, [ˈwiː.rʊs]

Noun

vīrus n (genitive vīrī); second declension

1. venom
2. poison

Inflection

Second declension neuter with nominative/accusative/vocative in -us.

Number	Singular
nominative	vīrus
genitive	vīrī
dative	vīrō
accusative	vīrus
ablative	vīrō
vocative	vīrus

Synonyms

• (poison): venēnum

Anagrams

• rivus

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Norwegian Bokmål

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Latin virus

Noun

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

1. a virus
2. a computer virus (see datavirus)

References

• “virus” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology

From Latin virus

Noun

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

1. a virus
2. a computer virus (see datavirus)

References

• “virus” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Romanian

Noun

virus n (plural virusuri)

1. virus

Declension

declension of virus

	singular		plural
gender n	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	un virus	virusul	niște virusuri	virusurile
genitive/dative	unui virus	virusului	unor virusuri	virusurilor

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Serbo-Croatian

Noun

vírus m (Cyrillic spelling ви́рус)

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

Declension

    declension of virus

	singular	plural
nominative	virus	virusi
genitive	virusa	virusa
dative	virusu	virusima
accusative	virus	viruse
vocative	viruse	virusi
locative	virusu	virusima
instrumental	virusom	virusima

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin virus.

Noun

virus m (plural virus)

1. virus, computer virus

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Swedish

Noun

virus n

1. virus