cancer

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Cancer, cáncer, cancèr, Cáncer, càncer, câncer, and Câncer

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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]

Noun[edit]

cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)

  1. (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.
  2. (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]

Hypernyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Coordinate terms[edit]

  • benign tumor
  • benign neoplasm
  • benign neoplasia

Derived terms[edit]

types of cancer; hyponymic

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → Hindi: कैंसर (kainsar)
  • → Swahili: kansa
  • → Urdu: کینسر‎ (kainsar)

Translations[edit]

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]

Borrowed from Latin cancer.

Noun[edit]

cancer c (singular definite canceren, not used in plural form)

  1. cancer (disease)
  2. (slang) Something perceived as bad.

Declension[edit]

Declension of cancer
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)

  1. cancer

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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

  1. a crab
  2. a tumor, cancer
  3. a lattice, grid, or barrier

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]

References[edit]

Old English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin cancer.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɑn.ker/, [ˈkɑŋ.ker]

Noun[edit]

cancer m

  1. cancer
  2. crab

Declension[edit]

Declension of cancer (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative cancer cancras
accusative cancer cancras
genitive cancres cancra
dative cancre cancrum

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French cancer, from Latin cancer.

Noun[edit]

cancer n (plural cancere)

  1. cancer

Declension[edit]

Declension of cancer
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]

Noun[edit]

cancer c

  1. (medicine, oncology) cancer

Synonyms[edit]

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]

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