cancer
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkænsə/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈkæːnsə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkænsɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ænsə(ɹ)
Noun
cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)
- (medicine, oncology, pathology) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
- If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the […] hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.
- 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
- Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.
- 2015 February 26, Francis S. Collins, Harold Varmus, “A New Initiative on Precision Medicine”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 372, number 9, , pages 793–794:
- Cancers are common diseases; in the aggregate, they are among the leading causes of death nationally and worldwide, and their incidence is increasing as the population ages.
- (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
- 1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing, page 134:
- Sierra Leone's post-dictator problems are almost absurd in their breadth. It once exported rice; now it can't feed itself. The life span of the average citizen is 39, the shortest in Africa. Unemployment stands at 87 percent and tuberculosis is spreading out of control. Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.
Synonyms
- (disease): malignancy
- (something which spreads): growth, lichen
Coordinate terms
- benign tumor
- benign neoplasm
- benign neoplasia
Derived terms
- abdominal cancer
- anal cancer
- anti-cancer
- bile duct cancer
- biliary tract cancer
- black cancer
- bladder cancer
- blood cancer
- bone cancer
- boob cancer
- bowel cancer
- brain cancer
- breast cancer
- cervical cancer
- cheek cancer
- chimney sweep's cancer
- colon cancer
- colonic cancer
- colorectal cancer
- concrete cancer
- duodenal cancer
- ear cancer
- esophageal cancer
- eye cancer
- gallbladder cancer
- gastric cancer
- gay cancer
- give someone ass cancer
- give someone butt cancer
- green cancer
- gum cancer
- head and neck cancer
- head-neck cancer
- heart cancer
- hypopharyngeal cancer
- I have cancer
- intestinal cancer
- jaw cancer
- kidney cancer
- laryngeal cancer
- larynx cancer
- lip cancer
- liver cancer
- lung cancer
- lymphatic cancer
- lymph gland cancer
- lymph node cancer
- mouth cancer
- mule spinner's cancer
- mule spinners' cancer
- multi-cancer
- nasal cancer
- neck and head cancer
- neck cancer
- nose cancer
- ocular cancer
- oesophageal cancer
- oral cancer
- oropharyngeal cancer
- ovarian cancer
- pancreatic cancer
- penile cancer
- pharyngeal cancer
- pharynx cancer
- prostate cancer
- rectal cancer
- renal cancer
- scrotal cancer
- skin cancer
- small intestine cancer
- stomach cancer
- swamp cancer
- testicular cancer
- throat cancer
- thyroid cancer
- tongue cancer
- tonsil cancer
- tree cancer
- triple-negative breast cancer
- triple negative breast cancer
- turbo cancer
- uterine cancer
- vaginal cancer
- walking skin cancer
- womb cancer
Descendants
Translations
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Adjective
cancer (comparative more cancer, superlative most cancer)
- (slang) Extremely unpleasant and annoying.
See also
References
- “cancer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “cancer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Basque
Pronunciation
- (most dialects) Rhymes: -ans̻er
- (Biscayan) Rhymes: -ans̺er
- Hyphenation: can‧cer
Noun
cancer inan or anim
- (astrology) Cancer
- Synonym: karramarro
- Cancer (someone with a Cancer star sign)
Declension
indefinite | singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
absolutive | cancer | cancerra | cancerrak | |
ergative | cancerrek | cancerrak | cancerrek | |
dative | cancerri | cancerrari | cancerrei | |
genitive | cancerren | cancerraren | cancerren | |
comitative | cancerrekin | cancerrarekin | cancerrekin | |
causative | cancerrengatik | cancerrarengatik | cancerrengatik | |
benefactive | cancerrentzat | cancerrarentzat | cancerrentzat | |
instrumental | cancerrez | cancerraz | cancerrez | |
inessive | anim. | cancerrengan | cancerrarengan | cancerrengan |
inanim. | cancerretan | cancerrean | cancerretan | |
locative | anim. | — | — | — |
inanim. | cancerretako | cancerreko | cancerretako | |
allative | anim. | cancerrengana | cancerrarengana | cancerrengana |
inanim. | cancerretara | cancerrera | cancerretara | |
terminative | anim. | cancerrenganaino | cancerrarenganaino | cancerrenganaino |
inanim. | cancerretaraino | cancerreraino | cancerretaraino | |
directive | anim. | cancerrenganantz | cancerrarenganantz | cancerrenganantz |
inanim. | cancerretarantz | cancerrerantz | cancerretarantz | |
destinative | anim. | cancerrenganako | cancerrarenganako | cancerrenganako |
inanim. | cancerretarako | cancerrerako | cancerretarako | |
ablative | anim. | cancerrengandik | cancerrarengandik | cancerrengandik |
inanim. | cancerretatik | cancerretik | cancerretatik | |
partitive | cancerrik | — | — | |
prolative | cancertzat | — | — |
Further reading
- "cancer" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
Danish
Noun
cancer c (singular definite canceren, not used in plural form)
- cancer (disease)
- (slang) Something perceived as bad.
Declension
common gender |
Singular | |
---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | cancer | canceren |
genitive | cancers | cancerens |
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɑ̃.sɛʁ/
audio (file)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “cancer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *kankros, dissimilation of Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”) (because the pincers of a crab form a circle), from Proto-Indo-European *kr-kr- (“circular”), reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”) in the sense of "enclosure", and as such a doublet of carcer. Cognate with curvus. The medical sense, found in Celsus, seems likely to be a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”), which is possibly cognate.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈkan.ker/, [ˈkäŋkɛr]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈkan.t͡ʃer/, [ˈkän̠ʲt͡ʃer]
Noun
cancer m (genitive cancrī); second declension
Declension
Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | cancer | cancrī |
Genitive | cancrī | cancrōrum |
Dative | cancrō | cancrīs |
Accusative | cancrum | cancrōs |
Ablative | cancrō | cancrīs |
Vocative | cancer | cancrī |
- In classical Latin, usually declined as a masculine second-declension noun with the stem cancro-.
- Third-declension forms built on a stem cancer- also existed, but were much less frequent. Attested forms include:
- The grammarians Charisius and Priscian describe a use as a neuter noun, with Priscian specifying that this applies when the word is used for the illness; the neuter occurs sporadically in later Christian authors.[1]
Derived terms
Descendants
- Asturian: cáncanu, cancru, cangru (“crab louse”)
- → Old English: cancer
- Old French: chancre
- Friulian: cancar (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro),
granç (via Late Latin cancrus) - Galician: cáncaro, cángaro, cancro, cangrio
- → Middle Irish: cainncer
- Italian: granchio (via metathesis of Late Latin cancrulus > *cranclus)
- Old Occitan:
- Portuguese: carango (“crab louse”)
- Sicilian: garanciu
- → Maltese: granċ
- Old Spanish: cangro
- ⇒ Spanish: cangrejo
- → Asturian: cangrexu
- → Galician: cangrexo, caranguexo
- → Portuguese: caranguejo
- ⇒ Spanish: cangrejo
- Venetian: cancaro (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro), granso (via Late Latin cancrus)
- → Proto-Brythonic: *krank
Learned borrowings:
References
- Jerry Russell Craddock, "The Romance descendants of Latin cancer and vespa" in Romance Philology, Vol. 60 (2006), Homage Issue: Special Combined issue of Romance Philology In Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Romance Philology : A homage volume dedicated to Jerry R. Craddock, containing a selection of his obra dispersa on Romance historical linguistics, pp. 1–42. page 5 http://www.jstor.org/stable/44741756
Further reading
- “cancer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cancer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “cancer”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
- “cancer” in volume 3, column 228, line 24 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cancer”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 174
Old English
Alternative forms
- cancor
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɑn.ker/, [ˈkɑŋ.ker]
Declension
Derived terms
- cancerādl
- cancerhæbern
- cancerwund
Descendants
References
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “cancer”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Romanian
Declension
Related terms
Swedish
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Declension
Declension of cancer | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | cancer | cancern | cancrar | cancrarna |
Genitive | cancers | cancerns | cancrars | cancrarnas |
Synonyms
- kräfta (obsolete)
Derived terms
- blodcancer
- bröstcancer
- cancerframkallande
- cancersvulst
- hudcancer
- koloncancer
- levercancer
- livmodercancer
- livmoderhalscancer
- lungcancer
- lymfcancer
- magcancer
- prostatacancer
- skelettcancer
- sköldkörtelcancer
- strupcancer
- tarmcancer
- testikelcancer
- tjocktarmscancer
- underlivscancer
- uteruscancer
- äggstockscancer
- ändtarmscancer