cancer
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), by metathesis from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab”); applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (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[edit]
cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)
- (medicine, oncology) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion[1]:
- 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.
- (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
- 1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing[2], 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[edit]
- (disease): malignancy
- (something which spreads): growth
- (something which spreads): lichen
Hypernyms[edit]
Hyponyms[edit]
Coordinate terms[edit]
- benign tumor
- benign neoplasm
- benign neoplasia
Derived terms[edit]
- abdominal cancer
- anal cancer
- bile duct cancer
- biliary tract cancer
- bladder cancer
- blood cancer
- bowel cancer
- brain cancer
- breast cancer
- cervical cancer
- cheek cancer
- chimney sweep's cancer
- colon cancer
- colonic cancer
- colorectal cancer
- duodenal cancer
- ear cancer
- esophageal cancer
- eye cancer
- gallbladder cancer
- gum cancer
- head and neck cancer
- head-neck cancer
- heart cancer
- hypopharyngeal cancer
- intestinal cancer
- jaw cancer
- kidney cancer
- laryngeal cancer
- larynx cancer
- lip cancer
- lung cancer
- lymphatic cancer
- lymph gland cancer
- lymph node cancer
- mouth 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
- testicular cancer
- throat cancer
- thyroid cancer
- tongue cancer
- tonsil cancer
- uterine cancer
- vaginal cancer
- womb cancer
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- cancer at OneLook Dictionary Search
- “cancer” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams[edit]
Danish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer c (singular definite canceren, not used in plural form)
Declension[edit]
common gender |
Singular | |
---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | cancer | canceren |
genitive | cancers | cancerens |
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin cancer. Doublet of chancre, which was inherited, and cancre.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer m (plural cancers)
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “cancer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer m (genitive cancrī); second declension
Declension[edit]
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 |
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Asturian: cáncanu, cancru, cangru (“crab louse”), cangrexu
- → Old English: cancer
- Old French: chancre
- Friulian: cancar (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro),
granç (via Late Latin cancrus) - Galician: cáncaro, cángaro, cancro, cangrio; cangrexo
- → Middle Irish: cainncer
- Italian: granchio (via Late Latin cancrus)
- Old Occitan: [Term?]
- Portuguese: carango (“crab louse”)
- Sicilian: càncaru, granciu, grancifudduni
- → Maltese: granċi
- Spanish: cangro
- Spanish: cangrejo
- → Portuguese: caranguejo
- Spanish: cangrejo
- Venetian: cancaro (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro), granso (via Late Latin cancrus)
References[edit]
- “cancer”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; 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[3]
- Jerry R. Craddock, "The Romance descendants of Latin cancer and vespa", in: Romance Philology, Vol. 60 (2006), pp. 1–42.
Old English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer m
Declension[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Middle English: canker, cancre, cancer, cankre, cankyr, kankir, kanker (partially from Old French cancre)
- English: canker
References[edit]
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “cancer”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French cancer, from Latin cancer.
Noun[edit]
cancer n (plural cancere)
Declension[edit]
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) cancer | cancerul | (niște) cancere | cancerele |
genitive/dative | (unui) cancer | cancerului | (unor) cancere | cancerelor |
vocative | cancerule | cancerelor |
Related terms[edit]
Swedish[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Noun[edit]
cancer c
Synonyms[edit]
- kräfta (obsolete)
Declension[edit]
Declension of cancer | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | cancer | cancern | cancrar | cancrarna |
Genitive | cancers | cancerns | cancrars | cancrarnas |
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- (turn)
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ænsə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ænsə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Medicine
- en:Oncology
- en:Diseases
- English terms with quotations
- Danish terms borrowed from Latin
- Danish terms derived from Latin
- Danish lemmas
- Danish nouns
- Danish common-gender nouns
- Danish slang
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Diseases
- fr:Medicine
- fr:Oncology
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- (turn)
- Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin terms with Ecclesiastical IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin masculine nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- Latin masculine nouns in the second declension
- la:Arthropods
- la:Diseases
- la:Oncology
- la:Crustaceans
- Old English terms derived from Latin
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English masculine nouns
- Old English masculine a-stem nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- ro:Diseases
- Swedish terms with audio links
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- sv:Medicine
- sv:Oncology
- sv:Diseases