Without a specific example to point to, we have to infer what the plural. In english, the plural form of words ending in us, especially those derived from latin, often replaces us with i. Besides, viri is the latin word for men plural of vir, man, the root the english virile. The noun virus has a latin root, but is one of the few nouns that has no plural in latin. It has a set of regular expression rules that define how words are pluralized. It seems that in ancient rome, virus was a collective noun for a mass of pestilence, and had no plural. According to the security expert, because linux is open source, the viruses. Those who contend that the plural should be virii base that on virus being from latin. Wikipedia has a rather large section dedicated to this question. I will download and run any application i want, not install protection software and dont care about viruses at all. The plural virii, though common, is often considered to be incorrect, and based on a misunderstanding of latin. Instructs your screensaver program to randomly interrupt whatever you are doing at least two hundred times a day and throw multicolor spirals across the screen while an audio feature shouts we looooooooove you.
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Rainbow virus information rainbow family of living light. Virus computer uncyclopedia, the contentfree encyclopedia. The example of the plural of datum is a case in point. Eric the cat wrote to us with one of the most amusing articles for the day. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. A russian security consultancy has claimed that a plague of virii for linux will be coming, thanks to chinese hackers. Some people maintain that virii is the correct plural of the word viruses. Computervirus dictionary definition computervirus defined. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and. Remy escaped the enterprise world and now makes leds blink pretty. Definition of virus merriamwebsters student dictionary. In reference to a computer virus, the plural is often believed to be virii or, less commonly, viri, but both forms are neologistic folk etymology and no major dictionary recognizes them as alternative forms. We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website, including to provide targeted advertising and track usage.
Downloading mac software on a pc, upgrading a power mac. But, you can use a security program to remove the virus. Net compatible language and battle it out with the others through the internet. A submicroscopic, noncellular structure consisting of a core of dna or rna surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and. The plural of radius isnt radiii with three letters i. If the plural of colossus is colossi, then why isnt the. The plural of octopus is octopuses not octopi, the plural of virus is viruses not viri and the pural of cow is cows not kine. Norton is updating its virus signatures at least twice a month now on their website, and we download these at work as soon as a new one appears. Microbiology is the study of microorganisms little, really little, critters except for the big one.
Always download patches to your operating system and applications software as soon as it is available and only download a patch from the. Conversely, some nonlatin words ending in us and latin words that did not have their latin plurals with i form their english plurals with i. I have three extension methods which wrap inflector, the first of which may be right up your street. Virus is one of the few latin nouns without a latin plural. The latin root of virus has no commonly used plural form. Virus definition and meaning collins english dictionary. Its plural forms are viruses or vira, and viri and virii are proscribed.
Briefly, the plural viruses is acceptable in english, while modern latin uses vira. Brazil, that inferno where every budding flower and every buzzing bluebottle fly bears a lascivious virus. The plural virii, though common, is based on a misunderstanding of latin. However, a number of people favour the terms viriiviri. A computer virus is a small software program that can spread from one computer system to. Keep your security protection software up to date to combat the spread of damaging computer viruses be wary of downloading executables or documents from the internet, as these can often harbour computer viruses they also found many of these airport lounge pcs were infected with computer viruses however, a viruswriting course shouldnt be dumbed down with only milkliver assignments. Virus definition, an ultramicroscopic 20 to 300 nm in diameter, metabolically inert, infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals. However, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be viri proscribed e. There is no example of a plural for the word virus in latin. Why do people create and spread computer viruses or virii. A virus plural vagina, virii, viruseses, virussian, or viral thingies is a tiny infectious nerf soccerball which enters the body through unprotected orifices and rapidly multiplies by feasting upon the juicy and delectable tissues of the brain, often turning the victims into zombies andor muslims in the process. Due to the fact that its illegal to download spore, it always has a virus. Mass nouns are uncountable, so no plural form exists in ancient latin literature.
The plural is often believed to be viri or even virii, but neither is correct latin and both are neologistic folk. There is no example of a plural for the word virus in classical latin. Why do people create and spread computer viruses or virii why do people create and spread computer viruses or virii self. Viruses is the only way to make the noun virus plural. Latin and greek endings plurals singular plural usually sometimes words ending in us latin masculine i latin neuter era singular second n. Virii as the latin plural of virus is incorrect for several reasons, the first one of which is the fact that the singular is virus, not virius.
If this makes my phone crash, i will return it to the store because its broken. Their reasoning is based on the fact that virus is a latin word and in latin the plural of the nouns ending in us is constructed by replacing the us suffix with an i suffix. And, please take a look at some relative sizes of different living cells at jim sullivans page. A multilingual inflector that transforms words from singular to plural, underscore to. In more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will be viruses. Computer viruses can also spread through downloads you do while online. Rna viruses plural form of rna virus computer viruses plural form of computer virus.
Powered by the ovorp game engine, virii is a game tailored for. Confusion arises over the plural of virus because people mistakenly believe that viri or virii is its latin plural form, in the same way that fungus, cactus, and hippopotamus become fungi, cacti, and hippopotami. In english, the plural form of words ending in us, especially those derived from latin, often. There is in fact no written attestation of a latin plural of virus. Since the use of the word virus is borrowed from biology, you might like to conform to the usage normally favoured by biologists, doctors etc. That is because virus ends in s, so we add an es to form the plural. True, the word comes directly from latin, but not all latin words ending in us have i as their plural.
There are even latin words in english that end in us that dont take i as a plural, in particular those from neuter thirddeclension nouns. In the case of some latin borrowings the original plural has been retained, but that is not always the case. The update on the virii form reflects the current usage of this alternate form which is used almost exclusively in the computer sense. Do all english words ending us have a plural ending i. By the way, there is a special warning on the notion website about word macro viruses that are contained in. However, according to my latin grammar, one of the very few books of my gymnasium high school days that is still up to date, the plural of the noun virus in latin is, like the plural nowadays used for virus in romance languages e.
Virus definition is any of a large group of submicroscopic infectious agents that are usually regarded as nonliving extremely complex molecules, that typically contain a protein coat surrounding an rna or dna core of genetic material but no semipermeable membrane, that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in humans, animals. The life of a contract network admin is possibly harder. Virii computer virus software information introduction. That means its plural, if there were an attested ancient usage of virus in the plural, would have ended in an a, because of neuter nouns in ancient greek and latin end in an a, in the plural nominative and accusative cases.
In classical latin, the word virus was a mass noun like our nouns water, furniture, wood. If it did, it probably wouldnt have ended in i, since the word was not in the part of the complex structure of latin word classes. Unix backup, aqua overhead, the plural of virus, and the new emacs. The form virii is impossible as a plural of virus, since we only find the ending ii in the plural. There are many exceptions, some because the word does not derive from latin, and others due to custom e. The plural of virus is not virii by remy porter in feature articles on 20110728 edit. At this point, you should step back from the specifics of your subject and relate it to the world as a whole, a universal statement, if you will. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Definition of virus noun in oxford advanced learners dictionary. My first experience of a virus program was back in 1989. But, is it possible for a javascript virus in a web page or any other web site based exploit infect an ubuntu pc, just by visiting and interacting with the web page no download. The version i have used has some errors in these rules though, e.
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