virulence
毒性
解説 Definition
病原体や毒物の有害性の程度。病気を引き起こす強さを指す。
Virulence is the degree to which a disease, poison, or harmful organism is dangerous or severe. It is mainly used in medicine and biology, though it can also describe extreme bitterness or hostility in attitudes or language.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
virus や viral を知っていれば、virulence はまず「病原体側の攻撃力・害の強さ」という軸で覚えると残りやすいです。-ence は性質や程度を表す名詞語尾なので、「どれくらい有害か」を数値化する感じ。severity は患者に出た症状の重さ、infectivity は感染の広がりやすさ、virulence は病原体そのものの毒性で別物。high virulence, reduced virulence, virulence factor までセットで覚えると実戦で迷いません。
Link it to `virus` and `viral`, but focus on the pathogen’s power to cause harm. The ending `-ence` turns it into a quality, so `virulence` is the degree of harmfulness. This helps you keep it separate from `infectivity`, which is about how easily something spreads.
例文
The virulence of the virus determined how severe the illness could become.
そのウイルスの毒性は、病気がどれほど重くなり得るかを左右した。
Scientists studied the virulence of the new strain.
科学者たちは新しい株の毒性を研究した。
The disease's virulence made it particularly dangerous.
その病気の毒性はそれを特に危険なものにした。
virulence の類義語・関連語
virulence の語源・成り立ち Etymology
virulence はラテン語 virulentia に由来し、virus「毒」と、性質を表す -ulent が組み合わさった語です。直訳すると「毒を帯びた状態」で、virus や viral を思い出すと、「毒性」が核の意味だとすっと理解できます。
Virulence comes from Latin virulentia, from virulentus, meaning "poisonous" or "full of poison." It is related to Latin virus, which meant "poison" and later gave English virus and viral. The central idea has stayed the same: a harmful or poisonous quality, first literal and later also used in a figurative sense.
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