Coronavirus

 

Electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virions with visible coronae
Electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virions with visible corona

L. corona = crown, L. virus  = venom, poisonous secretion. The crown refers to the virus’ crown-like surface proteins. Also called SARS-CoV-2 due to its linkage to the severy acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV) species.