coronavirus

Syllables: co·ro·na·vi·rusUK/kəˈɹəʊnəˌvaɪɹəs//kəˈɹoʊnəˌvaɪɹəs/

coronavirus noun: 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.

Image: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

coronavirus (countable and uncountable, plural coronaviruses)

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...[1968 November 16, “Virology: Coronaviruses”, in Nature, volume 220, number 5168, page 650
- 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.[1969 November, Harold S. Kaye, Walter R. Dowdle, “Some Characteristics of Hemagglutination of Certain Strains of ‘IBV-Like’ Virus”, in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, volume 120, number 5...
1. (often the intended sense) SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus that causes the infectious disease COVID-19.
  - 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”.2020 March 6, “First UK death from coronavirus confirmed as cases surge to 116”, in The Guardian
(metonymically) An illness caused by a coronavirus.
1. (metonymically) COVID-19, the disease caused by the specific coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Proper noun capitalized: Coronavirus

Coronavirus

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

coronavirus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

coronavirus in Hindi

member of the family Coronaviridae: कोरोना विषाणु koronā viṣāṇu, किरीट विषाणु kirīṭ viṣāṇu, कोरोनावायरस koronāvāyras

coronavirus in Tamil

member of the family Coronaviridae: கொரோனாவைரசு korōṉāvairacu, கொரோனா korōṉā

coronavirus in Marathi

member of the family Coronaviridae: कोरोनाव्हायरस koronāvhāyras

coronavirus in Urdu

member of the family Coronaviridae: کورونا وائرس, کرونا وبا karōnā wabā

More languagesFewer languages

coronavirus in Bengali: করোনাভাইরাস korōnabhairaś
coronavirus in Telugu: కరోనా వైరస్ karōnā vairas
coronavirus in Malayalam: കൊറോണ വൈറസ് koṟōṇa vaiṟasŭ
coronavirus in Kannada: ಕೊರೋನಾವೈರಸ್ korōnāvairas
coronavirus in Odia: କରୋନାଭୂତାଣୁ karonābhutāṇu
coronavirus in Sinhala: කොරෝනා වෛරසය korōnā wairasaya
coronavirus in Nepali: कोरोना भाइरस koronā bhāiras, किरीट विषाणु kirīṭ viṣāṇu
coronavirus in Arabic: فَيْرُوس كُورُونَا fayrūs kūrūnā, ڤَيْرُوس كُورُونَا vayrūs kūrūnā
coronavirus in Malay: koronavirus
coronavirus in Indonesian: koronavirus, virus korona
coronavirus in Persian: کروناویروس koronâvirus, ویش تاجی viš-e tâji
coronavirus in Thai: โคโรนาไวรัส, ไวรัสโคโรนา
coronavirus in Vietnamese: virus corona, coronavirus, vi-rút corona, siêu vi corona
coronavirus in Myanmar: ကိုရိုနာဗိုင်းရပ်စ် kuiruinabuing:rapc
Sindhi: ڪوروناوائرس koronoārs

Examples of coronavirus in a sentence

Among the most common are coronaviruses, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses.1999, J. Heritage, E[mlyn] G[lyn] V[aughan] Evans, R. A. Killington, “Microbial Infections”, in Microbiology in Action, Cambridge...
SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] is caused by a coronavirus.2008, Carol Ballard, “SARS”, in AIDS and Other Epidemics (What If We Do Nothing?), Pleasantville, N.Y.: Gareth Stevens Publishing, →ISBN...
Coronaviruses are worrying because epidemics caused by other members of the viral family, SARS and MERS, have had high death rates: 10 percent for SARS, and about 35 percent for MERS.2020 January 24, Denise Grady, “Chicago woman is second patient in U.S. with Wuhan coronavirus”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The...

All 40 example sentences with coronavirus

Synonyms of coronavirus

All synonyms of coronavirus

Forms of coronavirus

plural	coronaviruses
alternative form	corona virus
alternative form	corona-virus

Plural of coronavirus: coronaviruses

Origin of coronavirus

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.

Words formed from coronavirus

Phrases with coronavirus

coronavirus parties

Questions about coronavirus

What does coronavirus mean?: Coronavirus means 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.
What is coronavirus in Hindi?: Coronavirus in Hindi is कोरोना विषाणु (koronā viṣāṇu), किरीट विषाणु (kirīṭ viṣāṇu), कोरोनावायरस (koronāvāyras). See Coronavirus meaning in Hindi.
How do you use coronavirus in a sentence?: Among the most common are coronaviruses, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses.
What part of speech is coronavirus?: Coronavirus can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce coronavirus?: Coronavirus is pronounced /kəˈɹəʊnəˌvaɪɹəs/ (UK).
What is the plural of coronavirus?: The plural of coronavirus is coronaviruses.

Words near coronavirus in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: coronavirus (page history and authors); Coronavirus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-coronavirus.oga.

Cite this entry: “coronavirus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coronavirus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.