cancer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A serious disease in which abnormal cells grow and spread in the body.

   Early treatment greatly improves the chances of surviving many types of cancer.

2. 2
   noun

   A harmful thing that spreads and damages something else.

   He warned that corruption was a cancer eating away at the government.

3. 3
   name

   The star sign of the crab, covering people born between 22 June and 22 July.

   As a Cancer, she says she is sensitive and very loyal to her friends.

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.

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