Etymologically
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coronavirus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 02:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /kəˈɹəʊnəˌvaɪɹəs/[1]
  • US: /kəˈɹoʊnəˌvaɪɹəs/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English corona + virus,[2][3][4][5] which Merriam-Webster labels New Latin.[5] Its first part is from Latin corōna (“crown, wreath”),[2][3][6] and its second from vīrus (“poison, slimy liquid”).[3] The viruses are named for the fringe of projections from their envelope, which under the electron microscope looks like a crown or like the solar corona during an eclipse.[4][3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of a group of viruses with prominent projections from the envelope: 1968, in Nature of 16 November,[2][6] where eight virologists proposed the name "to recall the characteristic appearance by which these viruses are identified in the electron microscope".[6] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1968, and Dictionary.com to 1965–70.[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Wilton writes that the name was coined when the viruses were classified as a separate genus in 1968;[6] the OED notes that the group was formerly a genus.[2] From 2003 the word was used specifically of the coronaviruses that cause outbreaks of life-threatening respiratory disease in humans, at first the SARS outbreak,[2][6] and especially of the virus behind the pandemic that began in 2019.[2][6] Etymonline notes that Covid, a contraction of coronavirus disease, was coined for that outbreak,[3] and Collins records coronavirus as a popular name for the disease itself, COVID-19.[7] Grammarphobia explains the everyday the coronavirus as short for "the new (or novel) coronavirus", the one of current concern.[9]

Timeline

  • 1968 – a member of a group of RNA viruses named for their crown-like projections.[2][5][3]
  • 2003 – specifically, a coronavirus causing life-threatening respiratory disease in humans.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of a family of RNA viruses with club-shaped projections from their envelope, which infect birds and many mammals, including humans, and cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS and COVID-19.[5][7][2]
  2. Specifically, the coronavirus that caused the pandemic beginning in 2019, or the disease it causes, COVID-19.[2][7]

Word family

  • rona

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "coronavirus / COVID-19", 12 May 2020
  7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "‘The coronavirus’ or ‘coronavirus’?", 27 April 2020