what is the plural for virus?

[her209]

viruses or virii or both?

 

[Medea]

Both.

 

[bpctech]

viruses only I believe.

virii just sounds like an awkward word to say and my dictionary program doesn't have it, and it has everything.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: her209
viruses or virii or both?

technically it is virii.

but people use viruses in the real world.

 

[PrincessGuard]

It is viruses.

http://www.perl.com/language/misc/virus.html

 

[Medea]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: her209
viruses or virii or both?

technically it is virii.

but people use viruses in the real world.

Iron Woode gave a detailed and correct answer - ergo, both.

 

[Lithium381]

i use both, and in speech or written when i see either, i know what it is it's refering too, i say both

 

[Kadarin]

The only time I've ever seen "virii" used was on old Hotline servers (remember that?) where people had them for download.

 

[DogFromDuckhunt]

There is no such word as virii. The plural form is viruses.

 

[dighn]

one more vote for viruses. virii sounds like something hacker-wannabes use.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: DogFromDuckhunt
There is no such word as virii. The plural form is viruses.

i tried 1/2 dozen online dictinaries, and he is correct. i always thought it was virii, like cactus and cacti... learn something new every day.

 

[MustangSVT]

viruses i thought it was viri before but this is an old question so i learned

Originally posted by: Medea

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: her209
viruses or virii or both?

technically it is virii.

but people use viruses in the real world.

Iron Woode gave a detailed and correct answer - ergo, both.

haha makes both of you look real smart

 

[pnho]

science community= virii

tech community= viruses

 

[C'DaleRider]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: her209
viruses or virii or both?

technically it is virii.

but people use viruses in the real world.

Show me a dictionary entry that has virii as a plural of virus.........you won't be able to. Oxford English Unabridged .......... doesn't have virii, only viruses, American Heritage Unabridged ........... no virii, only viruses.

It's viruses only, and as noted before, virii as a word doesn't exist.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: pnho
science community= virii

tech community= viruses

are you sure about that?

 

[dabuddha]

vi·rus ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vrs)
n. pl. vi·rus·es

So there you have it.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Edit: Oops! Virii is not correct, mixed it up with viri!

 

[MainFramed]

lol i feel real dumb, thought it was just virus'

 

[jonmullen]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=virii there is a link for all you people who think is virii

 

[gururu]

Viruses is used most often in the virology community. I know a bit since I'm a virologist.
Virii is not used much and I can't remember ever having run across it in a publication, although I am
inclined to believe that it may be used in british texts.

 

[gururu]

I should also say that context matters.
One uses 'viruses' when discussing more than one class of virus.
When speaking of the number of viral particles in a sample, one actually uses 'virion', which is plural as well.

 

[ATLien247]

I think that "virus" is an English word, not a Latin word. So the plural should be "viruses".

If it were a Latin word, then because it is gender-neutral, the plural should be "vira".

Can someone else who has taken Latin verify this?

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: ATLien247
I think that "virus" is an English word, not a Latin word. So the plural should be "viruses".

If it were a Latin word, then because it is gender-neutral, the plural should be "vira".

Can someone else who has taken Latin verify this?

I have taken Latin and I can verify that you are wrong. If it was a Latin word, the plural would be "viri". Replace the us with an i to make Latin plural. If it was virum it would be vira. It would only be "virii" if the singular was "virius". I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY "VIRII". Viri is acceptable because it does look like a Latin word.

 

[Sundog]

Etymology
The word comes from the Latin virus, referring to poison and other noxious things. Today it is used to describe the biological viruses discussed above and also as a metaphor for other parasitically-reproducing things, such as ideas. The term computer virus has become another well-defined sense of the word. The word virion is used to refer to a single infective viral particle.

Despite frequent claims to the contrary, the only correct English plural of the word for any of these senses is viruses. The Latin word does not appear to have had a plural. Virii would be the plural of the word virius, and viri was the plural of the word vir, meaning man.

 

[Regs]

so we should conisder virii as latin?