“Virus” spread in new metaphorical directions later in the 20th century. David Gerrold's 1972 science-fiction novel “When HARLIE Was One” imagined a computer “virus program” that replicated itself like biological viruses do， predicting a threat to computers that has become all too real.
The adjective “viral，” used in a more benign way， became popular in marketing circles in the late 1980s， when “viral marketing” was first used for word-of-mouth advertising. The rise of the internet meant that information about a product or a service could “go viral” when shared by customers.
All the while， scientists have struggled to keep pace with actual biological viruses， identifying and naming newly discovered ones. In 1968， an article in the journal Nature reported that virologists had recognized what they called “coronaviruses”—so named because the fringe around the virus， when viewed with an electron microscope， resembles the corona of the sun. As viruses continue to replicate， so does the language used to describe them.
在冠状病毒的流行引发全球健康恐慌之际，跟上术语的发展可能并非易事。
对于这种病毒所引发疾病的正式名称，世界卫生组织已决定采用“Covid-19”，它是“冠状病毒疾病2019”的缩写。虽然有人认为此次疫情暴发源自中国武汉的一个动物和海鲜市场，但卫生官员一直避免以发源地来命名该病。世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞2月早些时候对记者说，“命名对于防止使用其他可能不准确或造成污名化的名称至关重要”，不过这并未阻止人们把该病称作“武汉流感”甚或“武流”等。
对于这种病毒本身，国际病毒分类学委员会现在将其命名为“SARS-CoV-2”（代表“严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2”）。《科学》周刊报道称，世卫组织对这一选择并不满意，官员们选择使用“导致Covid-19的病毒”或“Covid-19病毒”。
这些命名变化中有一个不变的词——“病毒”，仅这一个词就能引发根深蒂固的焦虑。
英语中的“病毒”一词源自一个意为“有毒分泌物”的拉丁语单词，早期，它常常紧扣“毒液”这个原意，无论是字面意义还是比喻意义。
在医学界，“病毒”最早在中世纪用来指溃疡或伤口的分泌物，最后转变为指称体内引发传染病的物质。它还可以指一种用于疫苗接种的感染性物质，例如，爱德华·詹纳在1799年公布了他的发现：“牛痘病毒”可用作一种预防天花的疫苗。