virus
/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/noun, verb
virus is spelled V-I-R-U-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, virus means “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…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of virus is viruses; Wiktionary also lists virusses (rare), vira (rare), viri (proscribed).
How many letters and syllables are in virus?
| Letters | 5: V-I-R-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,479th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is virus?
Virus appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th 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 virus?
- /ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/
Virus has 2 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: En-us-virus.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of virus
- viruses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- virusses plural, rare
- vira plural, rare
- viri plural
- virii plural
- virusing participle, present
- virused participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does virus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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).
- 2
A species thereof.
Meronym: virion (individual particle)
- 3
An individual particle thereof: synonym of virion.
Under electron microscopy, a few viruses were seen floating near the cells.
- 4
A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
Not much virus was detectable on a nucleic acid test; the viral load was very low.
- 5
informalA disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.
- 6
archaicVenom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
- 7
A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks by inserting its code into other executable files, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
- 8
proscribedAny type of malware.
verb
- 1
nonstandardrareTo send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.
I'm just going to virus anyone who tries cheating on this game.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Virus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | virus , virus informatique |
| German | Virus, virus , Computervirus |
| Portuguese | vírus , vírus de computador |
| Spanish | virus |
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 virus come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).