Etymology

antivirus

A1N1T1I1V4I1R1U1S1

Today it means: A piece of software that is used to detect, delete and or neutralize computer-based viruses. Full definition →

English virus ← Middle English virus ← Latin vīrus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énti
  4. Ancient Greekᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)
  5. Ancient Greekἀντι- (anti-)
  6. Englishanti-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*weys-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*wisós
  9. Proto-Italic*weizos
  10. Latinvīrus
  11. Middle Englishvirus
  12. Englishvirus
  13. English todayantivirus

From anti- + virus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.