rotavirus

noun

Etymology: From Latin rota (“wheel”) + virus. The name was first proposed in July 1974 in an article in The Lancet.

1. Any of a group of wheel-shaped viruses, of the genus Rotavirus, that causes gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children and animals.

   “We propose therefore that these reovirus-like or orbivirus-like enteritis viruses of calves and children are in a group separate from both orbiviruses and reoviruses, and we suggest that the term “rotavirus” (from the Latin rota, a wheel) should be used for them.”