Standard Lemma guide

cytomegalovirus

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˌsaɪ.toʊˈmɛ.ɡə.loʊˌvaɪ.rəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S AY2 T AH0 M EH2 G AH0 L OW0 V AY1 R AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several herpes viruses, of the genus Cytomegalovirus, that infect the salivary glands of certain primates, including humans.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, microbiology, natural-sciences, virology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: betaherpesvirus

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of a group of herpes viruses that enlarge epithelial cells and can cause birth defects; can affect humans with impaired immunological systems

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: CMV

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: herpes, herpes virus

History

Etymology

Internationalism. Borrowed from taxonomic name Cytomegalovirus, equivalent to cyto- + megalo- + virus.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ցիտոմեգալովիրուս (cʻitomegalovirus) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Basque: zitomegalobirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Catalan: citomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Chinese Cantonese: 巨細胞病毒 /巨细胞病毒 (geoi6 sai3 baau1 beng6 duk6) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Chinese Mandarin: 巨細胞病毒 /巨细胞病毒 (jùxìbāobìngdú) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Danish: cytomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Dutch: cytomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Esperanto: citomegaloviruso — genus of herpesviruses
  • Finnish: sytomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • French: cytomégalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • German: Zytomegalievirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • German: Cytomegalievirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Greek: κυτταρομεγαλοϊός (kyttaromegaloïós) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Hungarian: citomegalovírus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Ido: citomegaloviruso — genus of herpesviruses
  • Irish: cítimeigilivíreas — genus of herpesviruses
  • Italian: citomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Japanese: サイトメガロウイルス (saitomegarōirusu) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Korean: 거대세포바이러스 (geodaesepobaireoseu) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Norwegian Bokmål: cytomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Polish: cytomegalowirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Portuguese: citomegalovírus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Romanian: citomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Russian: цитомегалови́рус (citomegalovírus) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Serbo-Croatian: citomegalovírus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Slovak: cytomegalovírus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Spanish: citomegalovirus — genus of herpesviruses
  • Thai: ซัยโตเมกาโลไวรัส (sai-dtoo-mee-gaa-loo-wai-rás) — genus of herpesviruses
  • Turkish: sitomegalovirüs — genus of herpesviruses
  • Ukrainian: цитомегалові́рус (cytomehalovírus) — genus of herpesviruses