Etymology

from A-form DNA, a characteristic of viruses in this realm; the suffix ‑viria for realm taxa

to honour Wolfram Zillig, a pioneer of research on hyperthermophilic archaeal viruses; the suffix -virae for kingdom taxa

from the Latin talea, meaning “rod”, referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the phylum; the suffix -viricota for phylum taxa

from the Georgian თოკი   (toki), meaning “thread”, referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the class; the suffix ‑viricetes for class taxa

from the Latin ligamen, meaning “string" or "thread”, referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the order; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Greek lipothrix, meaning "fat hair", referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin rudi, meaning "small rod", referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin ungula, meaning "claw", referring to the claw-like structures decorating the termini of the virions of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Maximon, a god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility in Mayan mythology; the suffix -virales for order taxa; connection unclear

from Ah Mun, the god of agriculture in Mayan mythology; the suffix -viridae for family taxa; connection unclear

from the Latin prima, meaning “first”, referring to Thermoproteus tenax virus 1, the first hyperthermophilic archaeal virus to be isolated (in 1983), which is classified in this order; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Ancient Greek τρι- (tria) meaning "three" and στρῶμα (stroma), meaning "layer", referring to a virion tripartite shell consisting of two protein layers and an external envelope; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin dūplō, meaning double and DNA, referring to the fact that all founding members of the realm have double-stranded dsDNA genomes; the suffix -viria for realm taxa

from the Cantonese 香港 (Hēunggóng), meaning (and approximately pronounced) Hong Kong— referring to Escherichia coli phage HK97, the founding member of the HK97 (Hong Kong 97)-fold major capsid protein viruses in this taxon; the suffix -virae for kingdom taxa

from the name of a higher-rank taxon proposed by Lwoff and Tournier in 1966 (“Peplovirales”; from the Greek πέπλος (peplos)), meaning garment, referencing the unique tegument of herpesviruses; the suffix -viricota for phylum taxa

from herpesvirus;  referring to the herpesviruses, members of the class; the suffix -viricetes for class taxa

from the Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) meaning "to creep", referring to spreading blisters, with the addition of the consonant s; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), meaning "other" and ἕρπης (hérpō), which is related to the meaning "to creep", referring to spreading blisters; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós), meaning ‘soft’ and used in zoology to denote molluscs, and the Ancient Greek: ἕρπης (hérpō), which is related to the meaning "to creep", referring to spreading blisters; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthos), meaning “correct” or “straight”, and ἕρπης (hérpō), which is related to the meaning "to creep", referring to spreading blisters; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the name of a higher-rank taxon for tailed phages proposed by Lwoff and Tournier in 1966 (“Urovirales”; from the Greek οὐρά (ourá/uros)), meaning tail; the suffix -viricota for phylum taxa

from the Latin caudo, meaning tail; referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the taxon; the suffix -viricetes for class taxa

from the prototypical uncultured virus, crAssphage, a name derived from the software tool crAss for cross-assembly analysis; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Bosnian creva, meaning "intestine",  signifying that members of the family are highly abundant in mammalian gut, particularly, in humans; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin  intestīnus meaning "internal",  signifying that members of the family  are highly abundant in the  mammalian gut, particularly, in humans; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Irish stéig, meaning "intestine",  signifying that members of the family are highly abundant in mammalian gut, particularly, in humans; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Finnish suolet, meaning "intestine",  signifying that members of the family are highly abundant in mammalian gut, particularly, in humans; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Lithuanian jūra, meaning "sea"; referring to the marine archaeal viruses in the taxon; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from Yangshan, a Chinese island and gang , meaning "harbour" in Chinese, referring to the sampling location of marine archaeal host of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Yangshan, a Chinese island and luka, meaning "harbour" in Croatian, referring to the sampling location of marine archaeal host of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Finnish kirjomeaning "versatility" or "variety" and from the Finnish kansi meaning "cover", a magical object in Finnish mythology which brought riches and happiness including salt to its holder, referring to the haloarchaeal hosts of viruses in the order; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Finnish graavi, meaning raw cooking of fish with salt, referring to the  hyperhalophilic archaeal hosts of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Haloferax and Halorubrum. sp., hosts  to viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Finnish pyrstö, meaning "fish tail", referring to the virion morphology of viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from short tail, referring to the virion morhology of viruses in the family, and  the French sel meaning "salt", referring to the haloarchaeal host; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Marine Group II Euryarchaeota, the historical name of Poseidoniales archaea; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from Aoguang, the Dragon King of the East China Sea in ancient Chinese myths and legends; the suffix -viridae for family taxa; connection unclear

from Methanobacteriales, referring to the host of the viruses; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from anaerobic digester, referring to the source of isolation for a virus in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin armatus meaning “armed”, referring to exolysins with multiple pseudomurein degradation domains encoded in the genomes of viruses in the family; the suffix ‑viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek  καιρός (kairos) meaning the “time of opportunity”, referring to the finding of proviruses in the genomes of Methanobrevibacter that are related to viruses in the family; the suffix ‑viridae for family taxa

to honour the Swiss microbiologist Thomas Leisinger, who isolated the virus psiM2; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Latin piger, meaning “lazy”,  referring to the presence of viruses of the family mostly as integrated elements; the suffix ‑viridae for family taxa

from Nakon, the most powerful god of war in Mayan mythology; the suffix -virales for order taxa; connection unclear

from Ah Puch, the god of death in the Mayan mythology; the suffix -viridae for family taxa; connection unclear

from Ek Chuah, the patron god of warriors and merchants in the Mayan mythology; the suffix -viridae for family taxa; connection unclear

from Thumleima, the goddess and the female personification of salt, and natural salt brines in Meitei mythology, referring to the haloarchaeal hosts of viruses in the order; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Lithuanian druska, meaning "salt", referring to the hyperhalophilic archaea of the genus Haloarcula, hosts to viruses in the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Halophage HF1 virus (with "una" for "1"), the first isolated representative virus of the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Greek prefix halo, meaning "salt", and the Latin magnus meaning "large", referring to the fact that Halogranum tailed virus 1 has by far the largest genome among known haloarchaeal viruses; the suffix -viridae for family taxa