Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of a genus of wheel-shaped reoviruses, including one that causes gastroenteritis, especially in infants and newborn animals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the reovirus causing infant enteritis

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Rotavīrus, genus name : Latin rota, wheel; see ret- in Indo-European roots + virus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The name rotavirus was first proposed in 1977.

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