Where does “giant virus” come from?

giant virus (English) comes from English giant, from Middle English geaunt, from Old French gaiant, from Vulgar Latin *gagantem, from Latin gigantem, from Ancient Greek Γίγας, from Ancient Greek Γίγᾱς.

giant virus (English): Any virus with more than 300,000 base pairs in...

Definitions

  1. Any virus with more than 300,000 base pairs in...

Ancestry of “giant virus”, step by step

giant virus traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English giant

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishgiantA mythical human of very great size;...
2Middle EnglishgeauntA giant; A immoral or despicable person
3Old Frenchgaianta giant
4Vulgar Latin*gagantem
5Latingigantemaccusative singular of gigāns
6Ancient GreekΓίγαςone of the Gigantes; a Gigas
7Ancient GreekΓίγᾱς

via English virus

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishvirusA submicroscopic, non-cellular structure...
2Latinvīrus
3Ancient Greek-λογίαBase for nouns denoting the study of something,...
4Ancient GreekλόγοςThat which is said: word, sentence, speech,...
5Ancient GreekλέγωI put in order, arrange, gather; I choose, count,...
6Proto-Indo-Europeanleǵ-to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to...
Every word from Ancient Greek Γίγᾱς
giant virus — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer