## Meanings
1. A tiny living agent that causes disease by spreading inside the cells of a living host.
2. An illness caused by such an agent.
3. A harmful computer program that copies itself and spreads between computers, often damaging data.

## Examples
- The flu is caused by a virus.
- He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.
- A virus infected every file on the hard drive.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: virus
- Root: vīrus
- Root: *weizos
- Root: *wisós

## Etymology
From Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.

## AI Etymology
Virus is from Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One. Important historical forms include Middle English virus, Latin vīrus, Proto-Italic *weizos, and Proto-Indo-European *wisós. In present-day use, it can mean a tiny living agent that causes disease by spreading inside the cells of a living host, or a illness caused by such an agent.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction
- Technology & Computing

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