癌

癌 U+764C, 癌 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-764C ← 癋 [U+764B] CJK Unified Ideographs 癍 → [U+764D]

Translingual

Han character

癌 (Kangxi radical 104, 疒+12, 17 strokes, cangjie input 大口口山 (KRRU), four-corner 0017₂, composition ⿸疒嵒)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 781, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22538
• Dae Jaweon: page 1190, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2697, character 4
• Unihan data for U+764C

Chinese

simp. and trad.		癌

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声): semantic 疒 + phonetic 嵒 (OC *ŋrɯːm, *ŋjab); 嵒 is a variant of 岩.

Etymology

From 岩 (yán, “cliff; rock, stone”), since some cancers present as lumps or outgrowths on the body.

In Mandarin, this character used to be pronounced identically as 岩 (yán). Its pronunciation was changed to ái in December 1962 to avoid the homophony between 癌 (yán, “cancer”) and 炎 (yán, “inflammation”) (compare 肺炎 (fèiyán, “pneumonia”) and 肺癌 (fèi'ái, “lung cancer”)). The new pronunciation ái stems from dialectal pronunciations of 岩 (“rock; cliff”) /ŋai/, influenced by 崖 (yá, yái, “cliff”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): ái, yán

  (Zhuyin): ㄞˊ, ㄧㄢˊ

  (Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): ngai²

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): ngaam⁴

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): ngam³

• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): ngàm

  (Meixian, Guangdong): ngam²

• Jin (Wiktionary): ghai¹
• Northern Min (KCR): ngâng
• Eastern Min (BUC): ngàng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): gâm

  (Teochew, Peng'im): ngam⁵

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶nge

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ái
    • Zhuyin: ㄞˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ái
    • Wade–Giles: ai²
    • Yale: ái
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: air
    • Palladius: ай (aj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀaɪ̯³⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, variant in Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yán
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yán
    • Wade–Giles: yen²
    • Yale: yán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yan
    • Palladius: янь (janʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn³⁵/
  • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: ngai²
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: ngai
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋai²¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ngaam⁴
    • Yale: ngàahm
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ngaam⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: ngam⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋaːm²¹/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: ngam³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ᵑɡam²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ngàm
    • Hakka Romanization System: ngam^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ngam²
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋam¹¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: ngam²
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋam¹¹/
• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: ghai¹
    • Sinological IPA (old-style): /ɣai¹¹/
• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: ngâng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋaŋ³³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: ngàng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋaŋ⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Jinjiang, Nan'an, Hui'an, Yongchun, Changtai, Zhangpu, General Taiwanese, Philippines)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gâm
    • Tâi-lô: gâm
    • Phofsit Daibuun: gaam
    • IPA (Xiamen, Quanzhou, Jinjiang, Nan'an, Hui'an, Yongchun, Changtai, Taipei, Philippines): /ɡam²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɡam²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɡam¹³/
    • IPA (Zhangpu): /ɡam²¹³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: ngam⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: ngâm
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋam⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶nge
    • MiniDict: nge^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³nge
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ŋe²³/

Definitions

癌

1. cancer; carcinoma

   癌症  ―  áizhèng  ―  cancer

   致癌  ―  zhì'ái  ―  to cause cancer

   肺癌  ―  fèi'ái  ―  lung cancer

   直男癌  ―  zhínán'ái  ―  male chauvinism (literally, “straight men's cancer”)

Compounds

• 乳癌 (rǔ'ái)
• 乳腺癌 (rǔxiàn'ái)
• 前列腺癌 (qiánlièxiàn'ái)
• 卵巢癌 (luǎncháo'ái)
• 口腔癌 (kǒuqiāng'ái)
• 喉癌 (hóu'ái)
• 大腸癌 / 大肠癌 (dàcháng'ái)
• 子宮癌 / 子宫癌 (zǐgōng'ái)
• 子宮頸癌 / 子宫颈癌 (zǐgōngjǐng'ái)
• 宮頸癌 / 宫颈癌 (gōngjǐng'ái)
• 患癌 (huàn'ái)
• 抗癌 (kàng'ái)
• 淋巴癌 (línbā'ái)
• 癌症 (áizhèng)
• 癌瘤 (áiliú)
• 癌細胞 / 癌细胞 (áixìbāo)
• 癌腫 / 癌肿 (áizhǒng)
• 癌變 / 癌变 (áibiàn)
• 皮膚癌 / 皮肤癌 (pífū'ái)
• 直男癌 (zhínán'ái)
• 直腸癌 / 直肠癌 (zhícháng'ái)
• 肝癌 (gān'ái)
• 肺癌 (fèi'ái)
• 胃癌 (wèi'ái)
• 胰腺癌 (yíxiàn'ái)
• 腎癌 / 肾癌 (shèn'ái)
• 腎臟癌 / 肾脏癌 (shènzàng'ái)
• 腸癌 / 肠癌 (cháng'ái)
• 腺癌 (xiàn'ái)
• 腦癌 / 脑癌 (nǎo'ái)
• 膀胱癌 (pángguāng'ái)
• 致癌 (zhì'ái)
• 血癌 (xuè'ái)
• 防癌 (fáng'ái)
• 食道癌 (shídào'ái)
• 骨癌 (gǔ'ái)
• 鼻咽癌 (bíyān'ái)

References

• “癌”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 普通話異讀詞審音表初稿(第三編) [Third List of Pronunciation Standards for Words with Multiple Readings in Putonghua, Draft] (in Chinese), 文字改革 [Script Reform], Issue 85, December 1962, page 1