Cancer

See also: cancer, cáncer, Cáncer, càncer, cancèr, câncer, and Câncer

Translingual

Cancer pagurus (edible crab or brown crab)

Etymology

From Latin cancer (“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab”).

Proper noun

Cancer m

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Cancridae – true crabs, distinguished by the presence of a single posterolateral spine (on the edge of the carapace, towards the rear), anterolateral spines with deep fissures (on the carapace edge, towards the front), and a short extension of the carapace forward between the eyes.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Animalia – kingdom; Bilateria – subkingdom; Protostomia – infrakingdom; Ecdysozoa – superphylum; Arthropoda – phylum; Crustacea – subphylum; Malacostraca – class; Eumalacostraca – subclass; Eucarida – superorder; Decapoda – order; Pleocyemata – suborder; Brachyura – infraorder; Eubrachyura – section; Heterotremata – subsection; Cancroidea – superfamily; Cancridae – family

Hyponyms

• (genus): Cancer pagurus (edible crab or brown crab) – type species; Cancer bellianus (toothed rock crab), Cancer borealis (Jonah crab), Cancer irroratus (Atlantic rock crab), Cancer johngarthi, Cancer plebejus, Cancer porteri, Cancer productus (red rock crab) – species

References

• Cancer (genus) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cancer on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Cancer (Brachyura) on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

English

Signs of the Zodiac

Gemini		Leo
English Wikipedia has an article about Cancer.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cancer (“crab”), calque of Ancient Greek Καρκίνος (Karkínos, “crab”), calque of Akkadian 𒀀𒇻𒌅 (allutu, “crab”), from Sumerian 𒀯𒀠𒈜 (^mulAL.LUL, “crab; name of constellation”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkænsə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkænsɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænsə(ɹ)

Proper noun

Cancer (symbol ♋︎)

2. (astronomy) A constellation of the zodiac supposedly shaped like a crab.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     And add more coals to Cancer when he burns / With entertaining great Hyperion.

4. (astrology) The zodiac sign for the crab, ruled by the Moon and covering June 22–July 22 (tropical astrology) or July 16–August 15 (sidereal astrology).

Antonyms

• Capricornus

Derived terms

• Cancerian
• Cancri
• first point of Cancer
• Tropic of Cancer

Translations

constellation

• Arabic: بُرْج اَلسَّرَطَان m (burj as-saraṭān), اَلسَّرَطَان m (as-saraṭān)
• Armenian: Խեցգետին (Xecʻgetin)
• Azerbaijani: Xərçəng
• Basque: Cancer (eu), Karramarroa
• Bengali: কর্কট (bn) (korkoṭ)
• Bulgarian: Рак m (Rak)
• Burmese: ကရကဋ် (my) (ka.ra.kat)
• Catalan: Cranc (ca) m, Càncer (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨蟹座 (zh) (Jùxièzuò)

• Cornish: an Kanker
• Czech: Rak (cs) m
• Danish: Krebsen
• Dutch: Kreeft (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: Kankro
• Estonian: Vähk (et)
• Finnish: Krapu (fi)
• French: Cancer (fr) m
• Galician: Cáncer (gl)
• German: Krebs (de) m
• Greek: Καρκίνος (el) m (Karkínos)

  Ancient: Καρκίνος m (Karkínos)

• Hebrew: סַרְטַן (he) m (sartán)
• Hindi: कर्क तारामंडल m (kark tārāmaṇḍal)
• Hungarian: Rák (hu)
• Icelandic: Krabbinn m
• Indonesian: Kanser
• Irish: an Portán m
• Italian: Cancro (it) m
• Japanese: 蟹座 (ja) (かにざ, kaniza)
• Kazakh: Шаян (Şaän)
• Korean: 게자리 (Gejari)
• Latvian: Vēzis m
• Macedonian: Рак m (Rak)
• Malay: Ketam, Sartan, Kanser
• Maltese: Kanċer
• Marathi: कर्क m (karka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Krepsen (no) m

  Nynorsk: Krepsen m

• Old English: crabba m
• Persian: خرچنگ (fa) (xarčang)
• Polish: Rak (pl) m
• Portuguese: Caranguejo (pt) m (Portugal), Câncer (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: (Constelația) Cancerului n (def. form), Racului m (def.form)
• Russian: Рак (ru) m (Rak)
• Sanskrit: कर्कट (sa) m (karkaṭa), कर्क (sa) m (karka)
• Slovene: Rak (sl) m
• Spanish: Cáncer (es) m
• Swedish: Kräftan (sv)
• Tagalog: Alimango
• Telugu: కర్కాటకరాశి (te) (karkāṭakarāśi), కర్కాటకము (te) (karkāṭakamu), కర్కటము (te) (karkaṭamu), కర్కటం (karkaṭaṁ)
• Thai: ปู (th) (bpuu), กรกฎ (th) (gɔɔ-rá-gòt)
• Tocharian B: Aśleṣ
• Turkish: Yengeç (tr)
• Ukrainian: Рак (uk) m (Rak)
• Urdu: کیکڑا m (kekṛā), سرطان m (sartān)
• Welsh: y Cranc

astrological sign

• Afrikaans: Kreef (af)
• Albanian: Gaforrja f
• Arabic: بُرْج اَلسَّرَطَان m (burj as-saraṭān), اَلسَّرَطَان m (as-saraṭān)
• Armenian: Խեցգետին (Xecʻgetin)
• Asturian: Cáncer, Cámbaru
• Azerbaijani: Xərçəng
• Basque: cancer (eu), karramarro
• Bengali: কর্কট (bn) (korkoṭ)
• Bulgarian: Рак m (Rak)
• Burmese: ကရကဋ် (my) (ka.ra.kat)
• Catalan: Cranc (ca) m, Càncer (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨蟹座 (zh) (Jùxièzuò)

• Cornish: an Kanker
• Czech: Rak (cs) m
• Danish: Krebsen
• Dutch: Kreeft (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: Kankro
• Estonian: Vähk (et)
• Finnish: Krapu (fi)
• French: Cancer (fr)
• Galician: Cáncer (gl)
• Georgian: კირჩხიბი (ḳirčxibi)
• German: Krebs (de) m
• Greek: Καρκίνος (el) m (Karkínos)

  Ancient: Καρκίνος m (Karkínos)

• Hebrew: סַרְטַן (he) m (sartán)
• Hindi: कर्क (hi) m (kark), कर्कट (hi) m (karkaṭ), केकड़ा (hi) m (kekṛā)
• Hungarian: Rák (hu) (csillagkép)
• Icelandic: Krabbinn m
• Indonesian: Kanser
• Irish: an Portán m
• Italian: Cancro (it) m
• Japanese: 巨蟹宮 (ja) (きょかいきゅう, kyokaikyū)
• Kazakh: Шаян (Şaän)
• Khmer: កក្កដា (km) (kakkaʼdaa)
• Korean: 거해궁 (Geohaegung)
• Latvian: Vēzis
• Lithuanian: Vežys
• Luxembourgish: Kriibs (lb) m
• Macedonian: рак m (rak)
• Malay: Ketam, Sartan, Kanser
• Maltese: Kanċer, Il-Granċ
• Marathi: कर्क m (karka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Krepsen (no) m

  Nynorsk: Krepsen m

• Odia: କର୍କଟ (or) (karkaṭa)
• Old English: Crabba m
• Ottoman Turkish: كشف (keşef)
• Persian: خرچنگ (fa) (xarčang)
• Polish: Rak (pl) m
• Portuguese: Caranguejo (pt) m (Portugal), Câncer (pt) m (Brazil)
• Punjabi: ਕਰਕ f (karak)
• Romanian: Rac m
• Russian: Рак (ru) m (Rak)
• Sanskrit: कर्कट (sa) m (karkaṭa), कर्क (sa) m (karka)
• Slovene: Rak (sl) m
• Swahili: Saratani, Kaa
• Swedish: Kräftan (sv) c
• Tagalog: Alimango
• Telugu: కర్కాటకరాశి (te) (karkāṭakarāśi), కర్కాటకము (te) (karkāṭakamu), కర్కటము (te) (karkaṭamu), కర్కటం (karkaṭaṁ)
• Thai: กรกฎ (th) (gɔɔ-rá-gòt)
• Turkish: Yengeç (tr)
• Ukrainian: Рак (uk) m (Rak)
• Yiddish: די יענע מעשׂה f (di yene mayse)

Noun

Cancer (plural Cancers)

1. Someone with a Cancer star sign.
   • 2022, Candice Carty-Williams, People Person, Trapeze, page 189:

     ‘All right, so what are Cancers apart from sad, then?’ Lizzie asked.

Synonyms

• Cancerian

Translations

Someone with a Cancer star sign

• Bulgarian: рак (bg) m (rak)
• Catalan: cranc (ca) m or f, càncer (ca) m or f
• Danish: krebs c
• Dutch: Kreeft (nl) m or f
• Estonian: Vähk (et)
• French: Cancer (fr)
• Galician: cáncer (gl)
• Greek: καρκίνος (el) m (karkínos)
• Icelandic: krabbi (is) m
• Macedonian: рак m (rak)
• Norwegian: kreps (no)
• Old English: Crabba m
• Portuguese: canceriano m
• Romanian: rac (ro) m
• Russian: рак (ru) m (rak)
• Swedish: kräfta (sv) c
• Ukrainian: рак (uk) m (rak)

See also

Zodiac signs and symbols (layout · text)
Aries	Taurus	Gemini	Cancer
Leo	Virgo	Libra	Scorpio
Sagittarius	Capricorn	Aquarius	Pisces

Further reading

• Cancer (constellation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• crance

Basque

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin cancer (“crab”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kans̻er/ [kãn.s̻er]

• IPA^(key): (most dialects) /kans̻er/ [kãn.s̻er]
• IPA^(key): (Biscayan) /kans̺er/ [kãn.s̺er]

 

• Rhymes: -ans̻er, -er

• Rhymes: -ans̻er, -er
• Rhymes: -ans̺er, -er

• Hyphenation: Can‧cer

Proper noun

Cancer inan

1. Cancer (constellation)

   Synonym: Karramarroa

Declension

Declension of Cancer (inan C-stem)

	indefinite
absolutive	Cancer
ergative	Cancerrek
dative	Cancerri
genitive	Cancerren
comitative	Cancerrekin
causative	Cancerrengatik
benefactive	Cancerrentzat
instrumental	Cancerrez
innesive	Cancerren
locative	Cancerreko
allative	Cancerrera
terminative	Cancerreraino
directive	Cancerrerantz
destinative	Cancerrerako
ablative	Cancerretik
partitive	Cancerrik
prolative	Cancertzat

Further reading

• “Cancer”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

French

Cancer

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cancer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.sɛʁ/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

Noun

Cancer m or f by sense (plural Cancers)

1. Cancer (someone born with a Cancer star sign)

Proper noun

Cancer m

1. Cancer (constellation)
2. (astrology) Cancer (star sign)

Related terms

• tropique du Cancer

See also

Zodiac signs in French (layout · text)
Bélier	Taureau	Gémeaux	Cancer
Lion	Vierge	Balance	Scorpion
Sagittaire	Capricorne	Verseau	Poissons

Further reading

• “Cancer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Etymology

From cancer (“crab”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkaŋ.kɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkan̠ʲ.t͡ʃer]
• Hyphenation: Can‧cer

Proper noun

Cancer m sg (genitive Cancrī); second declension

1. Cancer, one of the constellations of the Zodiac

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er), singular only.

	singular
nominative	Cancer
genitive	Cancrī
dative	Cancrō
accusative	Cancrum
ablative	Cancrō
vocative	Cancer