Etymograph

English

Wuhan virus

From Wuhan + virus, q.v., from its presumed origin in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

A compound of Wuhan + virus

Mandarin 武漢

English Wuhan

Proto-Indo-European *wisós ‘fluidity, slime, poison’

Proto-Italic *weizos

Latin vīrus ‘poison, slime, venom’

Middle English virus

English virus

The story

The same name was separately and less prominently used in 1995 for a strain of H3N2 flu.

Today it means

noun Synonym of coronavirus, the disease COVID-19.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Wuhan virus