Rotavirus

//ˈɹəʊtəˌvaɪɹəs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of a group of wheel-shaped viruses, of the genus Rotavirus, that causes gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children and animals.

    "We propose therefore that these reovirus-like or orbivirus-like enteritis viruses of calves and children are in a group separate from both orbiviruses and reoviruses, and we suggest that the term “rotavirus” (from the Latin rota, a wheel) should be used for them."

  2. 2
    the reovirus causing infant enteritis wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
duovirus

Example

More examples

"Several years ago, a rotavirus vaccine was taken off the market because it increased a baby's risk of developing a rare, but potentially deadly, intestinal blockage."

Etymology

From Latin rota (“wheel”) + virus. The name was first proposed in July 1974 in an article in The Lancet.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.