coronavirus

name

1. Alternative letter-case form of coronavirus (“the virus SARS-CoV-2 or the disease COVID-19”).

noun

Etymology: From corona (“crown-like circle of light appearing around the sun”) + virus. Corona is derived from Latin corōna (“garland, wreath; crown”), from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “something curved; curved stern of a ship; end, point, tip”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). The name refers to the characteristic appearance of its virions by electron microscopy, which have a fringe of surface projections creating an image reminiscent of a solar corona. Compare the former genus name Coronavirus.

1. A member of the family Coronaviridae, comprising viruses which infect animals and human beings, and the genome of which consists of a single strand of RNA.

   “A new group of viruses with the name of coronaviruses has been recognized by an informal group of virologists who have sent their conclusions to Nature. […] In the opinion of the eight virologists these viruses are members of a previously unrecognized group which they suggest should be called the coronaviruses, to recall the characteristic appearance by which these viruses are identified in the electron microscope.”

   “This characteristic structural resemblance and other shared properties of these viruses have caused certain virologists to propose the name coronavirus for this previously unrecognized group.”

2. A member of the family Coronaviridae, comprising viruses which infect animals and human beings, and the genome of which consists of a single strand of RNA.

   “A woman in her 70s was confirmed as the first coronavirus death in the UK on Thursday as Downing Street warned that it was now highly likely that the virus would spread in “a significant way”.”

3. An illness caused by a coronavirus.
4. An illness caused by a coronavirus.