Think of something far too small to see that slips inside a living body, borrows the body's own machinery to make copies of itself, and then rides out to the next body — through a cough, a handshake, a shared cup. Three things travel together in the picture: it is invisible, it copies itself using its host, and it leaves damage behind.
From the word’s history
Latin virus meant poison, poisonous liquid, sap, slimy liquid. In English it first meant a poisonous substance or the thin fluid from a sore (late 14c.); the sense agent that causes an infectious disease appears in the 1790s, and the modern submicroscopic-organism sense in the 1870s. The computing sense is dated to 1972.
拉丁文的 virus 本來是「毒、毒液、黏稠的汁液」，14 世紀末進到英文時指的還是毒物、傷口流出的膿水。要到 1790 年代，它才被用來指「造成傳染病的那個東西」，1870 年代再對應到今天說的、小到看不見的微生物。電腦用法則要等到 1972 年。所以「有毒、會傷人」這層感覺，其實比「會複製的微生物」更早在這個字裡。
Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/virus
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料10 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
virusnoun/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/
- 1
A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
- Viruses are the smallest and most simplified forms of life.
- Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.
- 2
A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
- Meronym: virion (individual particle)
- Some viruses, such as norovirus, cause sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis.
- 3
A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
- Under electron microscopy, a few viruses were seen floating near the cells.
- 4
A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
- Not much virus was detectable on a nucleic acid test; the viral load was very low.
- Unless professionally inspected, they [plants] may also carry along unseen pests and diseases (particularly small insects and microbes such as virus or bacteria) whose populations might explode catastrophically in new locations.
- 5
informalA disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
- He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.
- 6
archaicVenom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
- Brazil, that inferno where every budding flower and every buzzing bluebottle fly bears a lascivious virus.
- 7
computingengineeringmathematicsA type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks by inserting its code into other executable files, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
- Wait a minute! Is this one of those virus emails?!
- 8
computingengineeringmathematicsAny type of malware.
另外 1 個記錄的用法
- 9
Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.
- I am tired of the mind viruses that are crippling people living in the western world — especially in my own nation. Sadly, Australia is becoming known as a nation of whingers.
virusverb/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/
- 1
rareTo send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.
- I'm just going to virus anyone who tries cheating on this game.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。