cytomegalovirus
/ˌsaɪ.toʊˈmɛ.ɡə.loʊˌvaɪ.rəs/noun
cytomegalovirus is spelled C-Y-T-O-M-E-G-A-L-O-V-I-R-U-S. The wrong spelling people search most is megalovirus: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 179 of all searches for the word. Cytomegalovirus is a noun meaning “Any of several herpes viruses, of the genus Cytomegalovirus, that infect the salivary glands of certain…”. The plural of cytomegalovirus is cytomegaloviruses.
How many letters and syllables are in cytomegalovirus?
| Letters | 15: C-Y-T-O-M-E-G-A-L-O-V-I-R-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 7 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 90,432nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, megalovirus, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell cytomegalovirus?
Cytomegalovirus is spelled C-Y-T-O-M-E-G-A-L-O-V-I-R-U-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 179 of the searches for cytomegalovirus in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is cytomegalovirus?
Cytomegalovirus appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 90,432nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cytomegalovirus?
- US /ˌsaɪ.toʊˈmɛ.ɡə.loʊˌvaɪ.rəs/
Cytomegalovirus has 7 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cytomegalovirus.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cytomegalovirus
- cytomegaloviruses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cytomegalovirus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of several herpes viruses, of the genus Cytomegalovirus, that infect the salivary glands of certain primates, including humans.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate cytomegalovirus?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of cytomegalovirus: CMV.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cytomegalovirus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense genus of herpesviruses:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cytomégalovirus |
| German | Zytomegalievirus, Cytomegalievirus |
| Portuguese | citomegalovírus |
| Spanish | citomegalovirus |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cytomegalovirus come from?
Internationalism. Borrowed from taxonomic name Cytomegalovirus, equivalent to cyto- + megalo- + virus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).