cancer
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin cancer (“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab”); applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkænsə/
- (Australia) IPA(key): /ˈkæːnsə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkænsɚ/
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Audio (US) (file) -
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ænsə(ɹ)
Noun[edit]
cancer (plural cancers)
- (medicine, oncology, pathology) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
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2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, 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.
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2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, 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.
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- (figuratively) Something which spreads within something else, damaging the latter.
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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.
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Synonyms[edit]
- (disease): growth, malignancy, neoplasia
- (something which spreads): lichen
Hyponyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
types of cancer
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation
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See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer m (plural cancers)
External links[edit]
- “cancer” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Proto-Indo-European *geng- (“lump”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
cancer m (genitive cancrī); second declension
Inflection[edit]
Second declension, nominative singular in -er.
| Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cancer | cancrī |
| genitive | cancrī | cancrōrum |
| dative | cancrō | cancrīs |
| accusative | cancrum | cancrōs |
| ablative | cancrō | cancrīs |
| vocative | cancer cancre |
cancrī |
Descendants[edit]
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin, French cancer.
Noun[edit]
cancer n
Swedish[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
-
Audio (file)
Noun[edit]
cancer c
Declension[edit]
Declension of cancer
Usage notes[edit]
- Until circa 1970, the word kräfta was also used.
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- cancer in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Medicine
- en:Oncology
- en:Diseases
- French terms derived from Latin
- 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 with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- la:Animals
- la:Diseases
- la:Medicine
- la:Oncology
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Swedish terms with audio links
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- sv:Medicine
- sv:Oncology
- sv:Diseases
