Meanings
plural picornaviruses
- Any of the family Picornaviridae of RNA viruses, many of which are pathogenic, causing diseases such as polio, foot-and-mouth disease, and many varieties of the common cold.
1 more example
Historically, interest in virology developed because these tiny microbes caused significant human and veterinary disease. One picornavirus, foot-and-mouth disease virus, was the first animal disease virus discovered; it was identified by Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch in 1898 as a filterable, infectious agent that caused the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease. The discovery of poliovirus as the etiologic agent of poliomyelitis was reported 11 years later by Karl Landsteiner and Edwin Popper...
2010, Ellie Ehrenfeld et al., The Picornaviruses, American Society for Microbiology Press, →ISBN
Origin
The name "picornavirus" has a dual etymology. Firstly, the name derives from picorna- which is an acronym for "poliovirus, insensitivity to ether, coxsackievirus, orphan virus, rhinovirus, and ribonucleic acid". Secondly, the name derives from pico-, which designates a very small unit of measurement (equivalent to 10⁻¹²), combined with rna to describe this group of very small RNA viruses.; pico- + RNA + virus
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish pikornavirus
- pikornavirusRNA virus of the family Picornaviridae
Cite this entry
picornavirus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picornavirus
“picornavirus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picornavirus. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “picornavirus,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picornavirus.
Source: picornavirus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.