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cancer

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.

Pronunciation

Noun

cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)

  2. (medicine, oncology, pathology) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎:
      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.
    • 2015 February 26, Francis S. Collins, Harold Varmus, “A New Initiative on Precision Medicine”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 372, number 9, →DOI, pages 793–794:
      Cancers are common diseases; in the aggregate, they are among the leading causes of death nationally and worldwide, and their incidence is increasing as the population ages.
  3. (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
    • 1991, Charlie Peacock, “In the Light”‎:
      The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul.
    • 1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing‎, 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

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

  • benign tumor
  • benign neoplasm
  • benign neoplasia

Derived terms

types of cancer; hyponymic
unsorted terms

Descendants

Translations

Adjective

cancer (comparative more cancer, superlative most cancer)

  1. (slang) Extremely unpleasant and annoying.
    Synonyms: (slang) cancerous, (slang) AIDS
    I used to love this game, but the new meta is straight up cancer.

See also

References

Anagrams

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Basque

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin cancer (“crab”).

Pronunciation

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

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

  • Hyphenation: can‧cer

Noun

cancer inan or anim

  1. (astrology) Cancer
    Synonym: karramarro
  2. Cancer (someone with a Cancer star sign)

Declension

More information indefinite, singular ...

Further reading

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

Etymology

From English cancer.

Pronunciation

Note:
  • ken1 saa2 - Hong Kong;
  • ken6 sa1 - Ipoh.

    Noun

    cancer

    1. (Cantonese) cancer (disease)
      生cancer [Cantonese]  ―  saang1 ken1 saa2 [Jyutping]  ―  to have cancer

    Synonyms

    Danish

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin cancer.

    Noun

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

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

    Declension

    More information common gender, singular ...

    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin cancer. Doublet of chancre, which was inherited, and cancre.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /kɑ̃.sɛʁ/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Audio (France (Paris)):(file)
    • Audio (France (Toulouse)):(file)
    • Audio (France (Vosges)):(file)
    • Audio (France):(file)
    • Audio (France (Vosges)):(file)

    Noun

    cancer m (plural cancers)

    1. cancer

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    Further reading

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    Latin

    Old English

    Romanian

    Swedish

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