Do we need a word for a single virus cell?

The entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein, – - – Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition. Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al.
New York: W. H. Freeman; 2000.

Maybe we could look at it like cactus. A single plant is a cactus, multiples are cacti. Maybe a single cell is a virus, multiples are viri.

I’m pretty sure the problem you’re having in searching for the word is that a virus has exactly zero cells. It’s not alive.

@gorillapaws Exactly !

The term virion is used to refer to a particle of a virus and is the viral equivalent of a cell. But @gorillapaws is right that viruses are not cells and are not made up of cells, therefore scientists do not consider them to be “alive”, despite them having DNA and proteins, like cells.

@seawulf575 Interestingly, the Latin word “vīrus” (meaning “poison” or “venom”), from which our word is borrowed, never had a plural. If it did, the plural would’ve been “vīrī”.