corona

¹

[ kuh-roh-nuh ]

noun

, plural co·ro·nas, co·ro·nae [k, uh, -, roh, -nee].

1. a white or colored circle or set of concentric circles of light seen around a luminous body, especially around the sun or moon.
2. Meteorology. such a circle or set of circles having a small radius and ranging in color from blue inside to red outside, attributable to the diffraction caused by thin clouds, mist, or sometimes dust ( halo ).
3. Also called au·re·o·la [aw-, ree, -, uh, -l, uh, uh, -, ree, -],. Astronomy. a faintly luminous envelope outside of the sun's chromosphere, the inner part consisting of highly ionized elements.
4. a long, straight, untapered cigar, rounded at the closed end.
5. Botany. a crownlike appendage, especially one on the inner side of a corolla, as in the narcissus.
6. Anatomy. the upper portion or crown of a part, as of the head.
7. any part or structure suggestive of a crown or curved crown shape.
8. Pathology. a coronavirus, especially COVID-19.
9. Electricity. corona discharge.
10. Architecture. the projecting, slablike member of a classical cornice supported by the bed molding or by modillions, dentils, etc., and supporting the cymatium.
11. the tonsure of a cleric.
12. Ecclesiastical. a gold-colored stripe around the lower edge of a clerical headdress, as of a miter.
13. a chandelier of wrought metal, having the form of one or more concentric hoops.

Corona

²

[ kuh-roh-nuh ]

noun

1. a city in southeastern California.

corona

/ kəˈrəʊnə /

noun

1. a circle of light around a luminous body, usually the moon
2. Also calledaureole the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere, visible as a faint halo during a solar eclipse
3. architect the flat vertical face of a cornice just above the soffit
4. something resembling a corona or halo
5. a circular chandelier suspended from the roof of a church
6. botany
   1. the trumpet-shaped part of the corolla of daffodils and similar plants; the crown
   2. a crown of leafy outgrowths from inside the petals of some flowers
7. anatomy a crownlike structure, such as the top of the head
8. zoology the head or upper surface of an animal, such as the body of an echinoid or the disc and arms of a crinoid
9. a long cigar with blunt ends
10. physics short for corona discharge

corona

/ kə-rō′nə /

, Plural coronas kə-rō′nē

1. The luminous, irregular envelope of gas outside the chromosphere of a star. The Sun's corona is composed of ionized gas between approximately 1,000,000°K and 2,000,000°K and has an extremely low density. This phenomenon is visible only during a solar eclipse.
2. A faintly colored luminous ring appearing to surround a celestial body (such as the Moon or Sun) that is visible through a haze or thin cloud, caused by diffraction of light from suspended matter in the intervening medium.
3. Also called aureole
4. A faint glow of the air in the region of very strong electric fields, caused by ionization of the air molecules and flow of current in that region in corona discharge.
5. The crownlike upper portion of a bodily part or structure, such as the top of the head.
6. A crown-shaped structure on the inner side of the petals of some flowers, such as the daffodil.

Word History and Origins

Origin of corona¹

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin corōna “garland, crown” ( crown ), from Greek korṓnē “crown, curved object”; akin to korōnís “curved, beaked,” kórax “crow, raven” ( crow ¹ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of corona¹

C16: from Latin: crown, from Greek korōne anything curved; related to Greek korōnis wreath, korax crow, Latin curvus curved

Example Sentences

In Cleveland, where eclipse-watchers were graced by clear skies, the Sun's corona was clearly visible, a brilliant halo framing the Moon.

From BBC

The difference between the speed of the fast and slow solar wind is thought to be due to the different areas of the Sun's corona, the outermost layer of its atmosphere, that they originate from.

From Science Daily

A change of host, especially from animals to humans, can greatly facilitate the spread of the virus, as the corona pandemic has emphatically demonstrated.

From Science Daily

Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

From Seattle Times

Plasma can be observed in the natural world in the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, and the Sun's corona during the recent solar eclipse.

From Science Daily

More About Corona

Where does corona come from?

Flowers and crows, priests and soldiers, suns and moons, kings and queens, lagers and viruses? What could all these disparate things possibly have in common? Well, in one way or another, they are involved in the rich history of the word corona.

Corona entered English around 1555–65. It was borrowed directly from the Latin corōna, meaning “garland, wreath, crown.” Its plural form is corōnae. A verb form of corōna was corōnāre, “to crown, wreathe,” ultimate source of the English coronation, “the act or ceremony of crowning a king, queen, or other sovereign.”

Let’s start with a glimpse into life in ancient Rome. Back then, a corōna served various ceremonial and symbolic functions. People wore corōnae of flowers at festivals, for example, or used them to ornament images of gods. Priests donned corōnae when performing important rituals and sacrifices.

Different types of corōna were used as military decorations honoring various acts of bravery. For instance, the corōna mūrālis, or “walled crown,” was a gold crown fashioned in the shape of battlements and was awarded to a soldier who was the first to enter a besieged town or fortress. One especially high honor was the corōna cīvica (“civic crown”), bestowed on a citizen who saved a fellow citizen’s life. It was also known as corōna querca, or “oak crown,” because it was made with oak leaves. This crown became a symbol for emperors and appeared on coins.

Outside of literal crowns worn on the head, the Latin corōna could be used for various things that resemble crowns in their form, including cornices and the halo around the sun. These applications of corōna informed the earliest uses of the word in English.

The oldest recorded sense of corona in English refers to the projecting, slab-like part of a classical cornice. Next up in English’s record, evidenced around the mid-1600s, is corona meaning “a ring of light, as around the sun or moon”—like a figurative crown atop the head of a celestial body. Today, astronomers specifically use corona for the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere, which is visible during a total solar eclipse.

Dig deeper

As we’ve seen, corona comes from the Latin word for “crown.” So does the very word crown!

Much older than corona, crown is found in English around 1125–1175. Crown developed from the Middle English coroune, among other forms, which came from the Anglo-French coroune, in turn from the Latin corona.

Now, the Latin corōna has its own fascinating past. It was borrowed from the ancient Greek korṓnē, a word used for a kind of crow or seabird, as well as for anything curved or hooked, presumably due to the shape of the beak of such birds.

What does the corona in coronavirus mean?

Before 2020, the word corona likely brought to mind for many people Corona, a popular brand of beer made in Mexico. The logo for corona features a gold crown—corona being the Spanish word for “crown,” also from the Latin corōna. The lager-style beer was first brewed in 1925.

Due to the 2020 pandemic, however, corona became widely used as a shortened form for coronavirus, especially COVID-19. Coronavirus refers to a family of viruses that cause respiratory infections. First recorded around 1965–70, the name coronavirus is based on the structure of these viruses.

OK, so far we’ve had some Latin lessons, some history, even a dash of architecture and astronomy—a little pathology can’t hurt.

A virus is an extremely tiny infectious agent made up of an RNA or DNA core, a protein coat, and, in some species, an envelope. Coronaviruses contain RNA and are spherical in form. They have an envelope from which project club-like spikes all over its surface. When they discovered the virus group in the 1960s, scientists originally thought the array of these spikes resembled the solar corona, and so named this family of viruses coronavirus.

Did you know ... ?

There are a number of other English words that ultimately come from or are related to the Latin corōna, including coronal, coronary, and coronet. Learn more about their meanings and histories at our entries for the words.

Finally, corolla is a beautiful botanical term—and yes, line of cars—for “the petals of a flower.” It comes from the Latin corolla, “little garland,” a diminutive of corōna. The term corollary is also derived from corolla.