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.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cancer comes from Latin cancer, “crab,” and has been used in English since the Old English period. Malignant tumors received this name because the swollen veins surrounding them were thought to resemble a crab’s limbs; the same Latin word also supplied the name of the zodiac sign.

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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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary