virion

n.
A complete viral particle, consisting of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein shell and constituting the infective form of a virus.

[VIR(US) + -ON¹.]

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(vir′ē-on, vī′rē-)
n

The whole virus, including the inner nucleus and the outer shell.

A complete virus particle, found extracellularly and capable of surviving in metabolically inert form and able to infect other living cells. Minimally viruses are composed of a core of genetic material which may be either RNA or DNA, single- or double-stranded surrounded by a protein coat (capsid) which together constitute a nucleocapsid. Additionally some viruses have a lipoprotein envelope that surrounds the nucleocapsid.