rotavirus
/ˈɹəʊtəˌvaɪɹəs/
rotavirus noun: any of a group of wheel-shaped viruses, of the genus Rotavirus, that causes gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children and animals.
Noun
rotavirus (plural rotaviruses or (rare) rotavirusses or (rare) rotavira or (proscribed) rotaviri or (proscribed) rotavirii)
- 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.[1974 July 13, Flewett, T. H., Bryden, A. S., Davies, H., Woode, G. N., Bridger, J. C., Derrick, J. M., “Relation between viruses from acute gastroenteritis of children and newborn calves”, in The...
- Synonyms:
- duovirus
Synonyms of rotavirus
Forms of rotavirus
| plural | rotaviruses |
|---|---|
| plural proscribed | rotaviri |
| plural proscribed | rotavirii |
| plural (rare) | rotavirusses |
| plural (rare) | rotavira |
Origin of rotavirus
From Latin rota (“wheel”) + virus. The name was first proposed in July 1974 in an article in The Lancet.
Words formed from rotavirus
Questions about rotavirus
- What does rotavirus mean?
- Rotavirus means any of a group of wheel-shaped viruses, of the genus Rotavirus, that causes gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children and animals.
- What part of speech is rotavirus?
- Rotavirus is a noun.
- How do you pronounce rotavirus?
- Rotavirus is pronounced /ˈɹəʊtəˌvaɪɹəs/.
- What is the plural of rotavirus?
- The plural of rotavirus is rotaviruses.
Words near rotavirus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rotavirus (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-rotavirus.wav.
Cite this entry: “rotavirus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rotavirus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.