hiv

1. 1.

   infection by the human immunodeficiency virus

   Broaderviral infection
2. 2.

   the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); it replicates in and kills the helper T cells

   Synonymshuman immunodeficiency virus

   Broaderretrovirus

Other forms of hiv

plural

hivs·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about hiv

What does hiv mean?

hiv means "infection by the human immunodeficiency virus". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in hiv?

hiv has 3 syllables, though it cannot be divided in writing — the spelling has fewer vowels than the word has beats. In IPA it is /ˈeɪˈtʃaɪˈvi/.

What is another word for hiv?

Close synonyms include human immunodeficiency virus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is hiv a common word?

hiv is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.