身體裡的毒：病與毒液
字面用法，毒還留在原來的位置——生物體裡。
adjective · C1
Used about a poison, a disease, or a germ that is unusually strong and dangerous, and that harms the body quickly.
毒性猛烈
核心畫面
You can think of virulent as full of poison, and poison of the fast kind. Not a slow stain that shows up months later, but something that gets into a body and does harm almost at once. From that one picture the word travels in two directions: it stays in the body, where it describes a or a venom that is unusually strong; and it moves into language, where a person's hatred behaves the same way — deep, fast, and meant to hurt.
virulent 可以想成「滿滿是毒，而且是烈性的毒」。不是慢慢滲出來的那種，是一進去就開始傷人的那種。從這個畫面出…更多收起
virulent 可以想成「滿滿是毒，而且是烈性的毒」。不是慢慢滲出來的那種，是一進去就開始傷人的那種。從這個畫面出發，它走了兩條路。一條留在身體裡：病毒、細菌、蛇毒，兇而且快。另一條走進語言裡：話語裡的恨也一樣，又深又快，講出口就是要傷人。From the word’s history
From Middle English virulent, borrowed from Latin virulentus 'poisonous', from virus 'poison, venom' plus the suffix -ulentus 'abounding in, full of' — literally 'full of poison', which is exactly the picture both modern senses use.
來自拉丁文 vīrulentus（有毒的）：vīrus 是「毒液」，-ulentus 是「充滿…的」，字面就是「滿是毒」。今天的兩個用法都還踩在這個字面畫面上。
Wiktionary 'virulent' etymology supplied in this packet (Middle English virulent < Latin vīrulentus < vīrus + -ulentus).
Two branches
話語裡的毒：恨意與攻擊
同一罐毒換了容器：不是進到身體，是進到句子裡。
adjective · C1
Full of deep hatred for a person, a group or an idea, or expressing that hatred in a fierce attacking way. The writer who chooses this word is also showing that they think the hatred is wrong.
惡毒的；充滿仇恨的