Wiktionary

cancer

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

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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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

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Noun

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cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)

  1. (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[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.
    • 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.
  2. (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
    • 1991, Charlie Peacock (lyrics and music), “In the Light”‎[2]:
      The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul.
    • 1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing‎[3], 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

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Coordinate terms

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  • benign tumor
  • benign neoplasm
  • benign neoplasia

Derived terms

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types of cancer; hyponymic
unsorted terms
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Descendants

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  • → Hindi: कैंसर (kainsar)
  • → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਕੈਂਸਰ (kainsar)
    Shahmukhi script: کینسر (kainsar)
  • → Swahili: kansa
  • → Urdu: کینسر (kainsar)
  • → Welsh: canser

Translations

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Adjective

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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

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References

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Anagrams

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Basque

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Latin cancer (“crab”).

Pronunciation

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

 

  • Hyphenation: can‧cer

Noun

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cancer inan or anim

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

Declension

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Declension of cancer (animate and inanimate, ending in -r)
indefinite singular plural
absolutive cancer cancerra cancerrak
ergative cancerrek cancerrak cancerrek
dative cancerri cancerrari cancerrei
genitive cancerren cancerraren cancerren
comitative cancerrekin cancerrarekin cancerrekin
causative cancerrengatik cancerrarengatik cancerrengatik
benefactive cancerrentzat cancerrarentzat cancerrentzat
instrumental cancerrez cancerraz cancerrez
inessive anim. cancerrengan cancerrarengan cancerrengan
inanim. cancerretan cancerrean cancerretan
locative anim. — — —
inanim. cancerretako cancerreko cancerretako
allative anim. cancerrengana cancerrarengana cancerrengana
inanim. cancerretara cancerrera cancerretara
terminative anim. cancerrenganaino cancerrarenganaino cancerrenganaino
inanim. cancerretaraino cancerreraino cancerretaraino
directive anim. cancerrenganantz cancerrarenganantz cancerrenganantz
inanim. cancerretarantz cancerrerantz cancerretarantz
destinative anim. cancerrenganako cancerrarenganako cancerrenganako
inanim. cancerretarako cancerrerako cancerretarako
ablative anim. cancerrengandik cancerrarengandik cancerrengandik
inanim. cancerretatik cancerretik cancerretatik
partitive cancerrik — —
prolative cancertzat — —

Further reading

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English cancer.

Pronunciation

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

    Noun

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    cancer

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

    Synonyms

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    Danish

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Latin cancer.

    Noun

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

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

    Declension

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    Declension of cancer
    common
    gender     		Singular
    indefinite definite
    nominative cancer canceren
    genitive cancers cancerens

    French

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cancer m (plural cancers)

    1. cancer

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    Further reading

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    Latin

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    Etymology

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    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. The medical sense, found in Celsus, seems likely to be a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”), which is possibly cognate.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cancer m (genitive cancrī); second declension

    1. a crab
      1. (Astronomy) the constellation Cancer
    2. a tumor, cancer
      Synonym: carcinōma
    3. a lattice, grid, or barrier

    Declension

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    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
    • In classical Latin, usually declined as a masculine second-declension noun with the stem cancro-.
    • Third-declension forms built on a stem cancer- also existed, but were much less frequent. Attested forms include:
      • genitive singular canceris (Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5.617)
      • accusative plural cancerēs (Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 157.3.4)
    • The grammarians Charisius and Priscian describe a use as a neuter noun, with Priscian specifying that this applies when the word is used for the illness; the neuter occurs sporadically in later Christian authors.[1]

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    Learned borrowings:

    References

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    1. ^ Jerry Russell Craddock, "The Romance descendants of Latin cancer and vespa" in Romance Philology, Vol. 60 (2006), Homage Issue: Special Combined issue of Romance Philology In Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Romance Philology : A homage volume dedicated to Jerry R. Craddock, containing a selection of his obra dispersa on Romance historical linguistics, pp. 1–42. page 5 http://www.jstor.org/stable/44741756

    Further reading

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    Old English

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    From Latin cancer.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈkɑn.ker/, [ˈkɑŋ.ker]

    Noun

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    cancer m

    1. cancer
    2. crab

    Declension

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

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    References

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    Romanian

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from French cancer, from Latin cancer.

    Noun

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    cancer n (plural cancere)

    1. cancer

    Declension

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    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
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    Swedish

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cancer c

    1. (medicine, oncology, pathology) cancer

    Declension

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    Declension of cancer 
    Singular Plural
    Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
    Nominative cancer cancern cancrar cancrarna
    Genitive cancers cancerns cancrars cancrarnas

    Synonyms

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    Derived terms

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    References

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