scariant

English

Etymology

Blend of scare +‎ variant

Noun

scariant (plural scariants)

1. (informal) An unconfirmed or unstudied variant or strain of COVID-19 that causes widespread panic.

   Public health officials derided the X-MPLE strain as a "scariant" last night.

   • 2022 January 11, Aude Mazoue, “Covid variant or ‘scariant’? Experts warn a future ‘Deltacron’ is possible”, in France24‎^[1]:

     Initial reactions have been sceptical at best, with prominent experts suggesting the apparent new strain looks more like a “scariant” – an unconfirmed strain causing a global scare – than a variant.