What’s the plural of “virus”?
The plural of virus is viruses. Virus does not use a Latin plural noun form (like cactus, cacti; or fungus and fungi.)
What’s the singular of virus?
Virus is singular. Viruses is plural.
What’s the definition of virus?
The Cambridge online dictionary defines the word virus as:
An extremely small piece of organic material that causes disease in humans, animals, and plants:
The chickenpox/flu/herpes/mumps virus;
Evidence suggested that the AIDS virus was spreading very quickly among the heterosexual community.
Irregular plural nouns (us-/-ses/-i suffixes)
Virus would belong to the category of irregular plural nouns that use Latin suffixes, including words like cactus, fungus, octopus, syllabus, stimulus, and so forth.
However, virus has adopted a regular plural noun form and uses the standard -s/-es regular plural noun ending as a plural, and uses viruses.
| singular | plural |
| virus | viruses |
| octopus | octopi (or octopuses) |
| radius | radi (or radiuses) |
| fungus | fungi (or funguses) |
| alumnus | alumni (or almunuses) |
| syllabus | syllabi (or syllabuses) |
Examples of “virus” (singular) in sentences
1. It’s possible to pass on the virus to others through physical contact.
2. A local doctor was the first to raise the alarm about this latest virus.
4. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with her – I think she has some kind of virus.
Examples of “viruses” (plural) in sentences
1. A second question concerns whether both viruses can simultaneously infect a single neuron. From the Cambridge English Corpus
2. Another type of vector is based on oncolytic viruses. From the Cambridge English Corpus
3. However, prolonged treatments may result in the inactivation of viruses. From the Cambridge English Corpus
4. The viruses are transmitted by the faecal-oral route from person to person, and also by contaminated food and water. From the Cambridge English Corpus
5. Their cells are far more complex than those of viruses, but they are still relatively simple. From the Cambridge English Corpus
Synonyms for virus
- germ
- ailment
- disease
- illness
- pathogen
- bacillus
- sickness
- infection
Origin of the word virus
From etymology online on virus (n.):
“Poisonous substance” (a sense now archaic), from Latin virus “poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice,” from Proto-Italic *weis-o-(s-) “poison”.
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