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plant virus

plant virus

3.2
A tiny germ that enters plants and makes them sick
  • noun
  • /plænt ˈvaɪrəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : virus vegetal
  • Farmers often struggle to control the spread of plant viruses in their fields each growing season.

And the most common virus in human feces is a plant virus that infects Peppers.

Examples

  • Fast, accurate tests, based on antibody testing technology, were developed for trichinosis in pigs, for anaplasmosis, a costly parasitic disease in cattle, and for plant viruses and viroids.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Your microbiome contains a plant virus known to infect blueberries, which could lead to an inflammatory response.

  • Worse yet, they are prodigious spreaders of plant viruses.

    Academic text (1997)
  • This is why humans are unlikely to be infected by plant viruses and why bees don't catch the flu.

  • Agricultural studies have shown that plant viruses can significantly reduce crop yields.

  • To protect their harvest, farmers must identify and manage plant viruses that affect their crops.

Synonyms

virus
vsplant virus
  • Specialized
857 3.2

A very small germ that can only live inside cells and often causes illness

is limited to infections of vegetation rather than infections of any organism

How Harmful

onion yellow-dwarf virus
  • Specialized
6.2
plant virus
  • Specialized
3.2
harmless
231 1.0

Surface Forms

plant virus singular
plant viruses plural

Morphology

plant + virus

The meaning 'a virus that infects plants' is directly and compositionally built from 'plant' + 'virus', with no idiomatic shift. This noun-noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic compounding pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Plant virus comes from joining the words plant and virus, and it creates the picture of a tiny invisible germ moving from leaf to leaf, like a cold in people. That's why a plant virus means a virus that 'infects' plants.