Antivirus

[Gilles Gravier]

Hi!

Derek Broughton wrote:
> Graham Watkins wrote:
>   
>> viruses (virii?) 
>>     
> Since you ask, viri; but that's only because it's Latin.  The plural of
> octopus is octopuses.
>   
Actually, since you mention "Latin". Virus, in Latin, has no plural. It 
didn't mean what we use it to mean today. So it's a mass noun, like the 
English words "information", "air", "rice" which have no plural form. 
There's a good article on Wikipedia about this : 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus#Plural_of_virus_in_Latin

No plural for "virus" in Latin... so in English, the normal plural of 
"virus" is "viruses", built using English grammar rules like your 
"octopus/octopuses" example. One virus... multiple viruses.

Actually, one might argue that the plural of virus is "Microsoft 
Windows", but that's another debate, not really linked to grammar.

Gilles.