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 Chiyou, a symbol of war and invention in Chinese mythology; the suffix -viridae for family 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 Adrika, the cursed apsara (celestial nymph), who took form of a fish in ancient Indian mythology, referring to the sample source; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from Satyavati, the child of Adrika, who later became an ancient Indian Queen in ancient Indian mythology; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós), meaning self, and the Greek γρᾰ́φειν (gráphein) meaning to carve, referring to "self-writing” or “self-transcribing” bacterial viruses in the order that encode a large single subunit RNA polymerase; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from the Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós), meaning self, and from the neuter plural of the Latin notare, meaning to inscribe; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós), meaning self, and from the neuter plural of the Latin scripto meaning to write; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós), meaning self, and from the neuter plural of the Latin signare, meaning to sign; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from the Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós), meaning self, and from the neuter plural of the Latin transcribere meaning to copy; the suffix -viridae for family 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 Latin grande, meaning large or great, referring to the large genome size (< 200 kb) of viruses in the order; the suffix -virales for order taxa

from Epsom, UK, a town famous for horse racing, referring to the equine source of the first member of the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Laksam Upazila, Bangladesh, the location where viruses were sampled from human gut microbiome; 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 Apas, the ancient water goddesses in Indian mythology, referring to the sample source; the suffix -viridae for family taxa

from Krittika, a legendary princess bathing in an Indian river (Ganga) according to ancient Indian mythology, referring to the sample source; the suffix -viridae for family taxa