# “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus”



## takashi0930

Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation? 

I know “corona” is the circle of light around the Sun, not a virus, and it would be incorrect to call the new coronavirus “corona” in medical articles, but I just wonder if it works in daily conversation.  It works in my language.

For example, how about:

A: We started teleworking. 
B: Is that because of the corona?


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## lingobingo

I haven’t heard anyone abbreviate it that way, and there’s talk of little else at the moment!


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## Riyan

takashi0930 said:


> Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation?
> 
> I know “corona” is the circle of light around the Sun, not a virus, and it would be incorrect to call the new coronavirus “corona” in medical articles, but I just wonder if it works in daily conversation.  It works in my language.
> 
> For example, how about:
> 
> A: We started teleworking.
> B: Is that because of the corona?


Since the outbreak of 'Coronavirus', a lot of people refer 'corona' to 'Coronavirus'.


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## Uncle Jack

I heard it yesterday, but it certainly does not appear to be a widespread use (yet).


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## Lotsalatte

takashi0930 said:


> Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation?
> 
> I know “corona” is the circle of light around the Sun, not a virus, and it would be incorrect to call the new coronavirus “corona” in medical articles, but I just wonder if it works in daily conversation.  It works in my language.
> 
> For example, how about:
> 
> A: We started teleworking.
> B: Is that because of the corona?


It's used like that a lot. Maybe that's why 38% of Americans reportedly have it mixed up with Corona beer.


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## sdgraham

takashi0930 said:


> Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation?


No.!
"Corona" is already well-established in AE -- and it has nothing to do with a virus.


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## Barque

I haven't heard it yet.

Even the term _coronavirus_ isn't really specific because this virus is just one type of coronavirus; there are other coronaviruses including the one that causes the common cold. But that's a comparatively fine distinction which most people don't make.



sdgraham said:


> Corona" is already well-established in AE -- and it has nothing to do with a virus.


But commonly served cold, if I may make a very bad joke.


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## JulianStuart

Barque said:


> I haven't heard it yet.
> 
> Even the term _coronavirus_ isn't really specific because this virus is just one type of coronavirus; there are other coronaviruses including the one that causes the common cold. But that's a comparatively fine distinction which most people don't make.


 
The public is sow to pick up "complicated" nomenclature systems   WHO also took a while to decide, but officially "SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes the disease called COVID-19"


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## Riyan

JulianStuart said:


> COVID-19


As far as I'm concerned, *COVID-19* is the abbreviation (or shortened version) of "CoronaVirus December (or disease?) 2019".
_Co - Corona
Vi - Virus
D - December
19 - 2019 (as it broke out in December 2019)._


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## Uncle Jack

riyanswat said:


> As far as I'm concerned, *COVID-19* is the abbreviation (or shortened version) of "CoronaVirus December (or disease?) 2019".
> _Co - Corona
> Vi - Virus
> D - December
> 19 - 2019 (as it broke out in December 2019)._


D is for Disease, apparently: Disease Caused by the Novel Coronavirus Officially Has a Name: COVID-19

In Britain, Coronavirus is still easily the most common term, but COVID-19 has been gaining ground.


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## JulianStuart

Then you have read and interpreted the WHO statements almost correctly -  I think D is for disease.  From the WHO page:


> *Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it*
> Official names have been announced for the virus responsible for COVID-19 (previously known as “2019 novel coronavirus”) and the disease it causes.  The official names are:
> *Disease
> co*rona*vi*rus *d*isease
> (COVID-19)
> *Virus *
> severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
> (SARS-CoV-2)


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## takashi0930

Thank you, everyone.

Since "coronavirus" is a general noun, "c" should be a small letter, right?  There are more than one coronavirus. COVID-19 isn't the only coronavirus.


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## JulianStuart

takashi0930 said:


> Thank you, everyone.
> 
> Since "coronavirus" is a general noun, "c" should be a small letter, right?  There are more than one coronavirus. COVID-19 isn't the only coronavirus.


COVID-19 is not a virus .  That abbreviation/label (assigned by the World Health Organization - WHO)  refers to the disease.  SARS-CoV-2 is the virus - see #11.


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## takashi0930

JulianStuart said:


> COVID-19 is not a virus .  That abbreviation/label (assigned by the World Health Organization - WHO)  refers to the disease.  SARS-CoV-2 is the virus - see #11.



You’re right. My mistake. But still, “c” in “coronavirus” should be a small letter, right?


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## JulianStuart

takashi0930 said:


> You’re right. My mistake. But still, “c” in “coronavirus” should be a small letter, right?


If you refer to something simply as "a coronavirus", then yes, small c.  In the label, they have used a capital letter.  Just like they have with SARS, and WHO etc. This is typical in abbreviations, titles, official names and so on.


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## takashi0930

JulianStuart said:


> If you refer to something simply as "a coronavirus", then yes, small c.  In the label, they have used a capital letter.  Just like they have with SARS, and WHO etc. This is typical in abbreviations, titles, official names and so on.



Thank you for your reply.  Of course it’s a capital “C” in COVID-19. I just wanted to confirm it should be a small “c” when you say “coronavirus” because apparently some native English speakers use a capital letter for it.


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## Uncle Jack

takashi0930 said:


> You’re right. My mistake. But still, “c” in “coronavirus” should be a small letter, right?


The usual way of referring to the virus currently sweeping the world is "coronavirus" (lower case and no article). It is a cross between a common noun (which would ordinarily need an article) and a proper noun (which would have a capital letter). This sort of thing is very common.

Conceivably, some publications may choose to capitalise it, but none do that I regularly read, at least, not that I have noticed. Some individuals may also capitalise it, perhaps thinking this is necessary since it is used in speech like a proper noun.


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## 2PieRad

takashi0930 said:


> Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation?


No one in my immediate circle does.

_Corona _makes me think of the beer (post #6), even though I barely drink and even when I do, I never drink beer.

Also, _teleworking _might be a BE word. I see myself saying _corona _meaning _coronavirus _before saying _teleworking..._


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## takashi0930

Thank you.



Erebos12345 said:


> Also, _teleworking _might be a BE word. I see myself saying _corona _meaning _coronavirus _before saying _teleworking..._



I've started a new thead about it here: Is "teleworking" British English?


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## natkretep

I haven't heard it used this way. In the earlier days, when we had this horrendous symbol _2019_-nCoV, it was known as the Wuhan virus, or just the Wuhan. This is still heard sometimes. I might still say 'the virus' (not 'the corona') allowing the context to clarify which virus I mean.


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## RM1(SS)

takashi0930 said:


> Do native speakers use “corona” as an abbreviation of “coronavirus” in casual conversation?


I do.  I also say "flu" and "TB".


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## kentix

Virus names aren't capitalized.

You might contract hepatitis A or hepatitis B or one of the other ones.

You might have been infected by an influenza virus, like influenza B.

You could have caught cytomegalovirus.

Corona is not a proper name. It's a description of the viral structure, which is reminiscent of a corona (a common noun).


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## Roymalika

Hi,

A virus is the cause of a disease.
There is a disease called "COVID-19".
Which virus causes it? -> coronavirus
What is the name of the virus? -> SARS-CoV-2
There are many coronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2 is the specific coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

May I ask whether I've understood correctly?


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## Uncle Jack

Roymalika said:


> Hi,
> 
> A virus is the cause of a disease.
> There is a disease called "COVID-19".
> Which virus causes it? -> coronavirus
> What is the name of the virus? -> SARS-CoV-2
> There are many coronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2 is the specific coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
> 
> May I ask whether I've understood correctly?


We have changed the language we use in the two years since this thread was started, and the disease is now almost always known as "Covid" or "Covid-19", thereby releasing "coronavirus" from its previous use. "Coronavirus" has therefore reverted to being an ordinary countable noun, and it needs an article in the answer to your third question:
What type of virus causes it?​A coronavirus​
The rest of it looks fine to me (but I am neither a biologist nor a medic).


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## Roymalika

Uncle Jack said:


> We have changed the language we use in the two years since this thread was started, and the disease is now almost always known as "Covid" or "Covid-19", thereby releasing "coronavirus" from its previous use.


Do you mean two years ago, the disease was called either COVID-19 or just coronavirus?


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## Uncle Jack

Roymalika said:


> Do you mean two years ago, the disease was called either COVID-19 or just coronavirus?


We often used "coronavirus" to refer to the disease, and we used the word as if it were a proper noun, without an article (although it was not usually capitalised). By late 2020, this use had ceased. Now "coronavirus" is just an ordinary, countable common noun, and an article is needed.


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## MattiasNYC

I've almost never heard anyone refer to the disease as "coronavirus" or even "corona", always "Covid".


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## lingobingo

It was definitely referred to as coronavirus when we first knew about it. The term Covid-19 hadn’t yet been coined at that time.


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## MattiasNYC

I've seen "coronavirus disease" written out. Perhaps it's because we got hit only once the WHO had named it "COVID-19" already that I only recall that name for the disease.


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## lingobingo

No doubt.


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## kentix

It was on February 11, 2020 that they named it. I know at that point it was already big news for those reading the news (although, looking back, it seems so early). Lots of people had died in China already. International travel had been cut off there in late January. (At least from the initial area and maybe all?) Before that there were numerous references to the "novel coronarvirus", which I thought was stupid from day one. Novel is a word that wears out fast.


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## JulianStuart

kentix said:


> It was on February 11, 2020 that they named it. I know at that point it was already big news for those reading the news (although, looking back, it seems so early). Lots of people had died in China already. International travel had been cut off there in late January. (At least from the initial area and maybe all?) Before that there were numerous references to the "novel coronarvirus", which I thought was stupid from day one. Novel is a word that wears out fast.


At that time it _was_ a novel coronavirus, and referring to it that way served its purpose.  WHO moved very quickly (for WHO) to assign "official" names and herd the media into the new terminology.


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## kentix

But some people were using it like a name, and not a description.


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## JulianStuart

It's quite common for a new "thing" to take a while to settle down with a name that becomes the eventual usage winner (and not necessarily the same in each English-speaking country).  It's good that we seem to have settled on a good (and coincidentally the "official") one *CO*rona*VI*rus*D*isease.


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## kentix

COVID-19. There are other coronavirus diseases.


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## JulianStuart

kentix said:


> COVID-19. There are other coronavirus diseases.


It's all about context   In most situations, the -19 isn't really necessary and seems to be fading in typical casual conversation. Compate "Did you get your covid booster yet?" with "Did you get your covid-19 booster yet?"


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## kentix

We were talking about official WHO names.


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## JulianStuart

kentix said:


> We were talking about official WHO names.


I wasn't being that restrictive - referring to what most people say these days, two years later..


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## Roxxxannne

MattiasNYC said:


> I've almost never heard anyone refer to the disease as "coronavirus" or even "corona", always "Covid".


I've heard a couple of educated people say 'corona': 'We all had corona in May' and 'we all had the corona in May.'  I take it as analogous to 'we all had flu/the flu.'


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## kentix

I've definitely heard that, too. Dealing with people... it's like herding cats.


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## MattiasNYC

I'll blame what I've heard on my friends all belonging to those uneducated lowly classes...  😄


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