canker

C2+ Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /ˈkæŋkɚ/ UK /ˈkæŋkə/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like conquer /æ/ vs /ɑ/

Meanings

1

noun
a spreading ulcer or plant sore; a corrupting influence

Corruption was a canker eating at the heart of the institution.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a spreading ulcer or plant... ulcer sore blight corruption rot cancer

Word family

Derived forms cankeredcankerous

Related forms cancer

Simplified etymology

Canker was the usual English form of cancer from the Middle English period until the 17th century. It then became associated particularly with various diseases of plants.

Etymology

From Old North French cancre, from Latin cancer ('crab, ulcer, malignant growth'); a doublet of cancer.

cancre Old French cancer Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Plants & Agriculture Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# canker

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkæŋkɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkæŋkə/

## Meanings
1. a spreading ulcer or plant sore; a corrupting influence

## Examples
- Corruption was a canker eating at the heart of the institution.

## Synonyms
- ulcer
- sore
- blight
- corruption
- rot
- cancer

## Derived Forms
- cankered
- cankerous

## Related Forms
- cancer

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cancre
- Root: cancer

## Etymology
From Old North French cancre, from Latin cancer ('crab, ulcer, malignant growth'); a doublet of cancer.

## AI Etymology
Canker comes from Old North French cancre, from Latin cancer ('crab, ulcer, malignant growth'); a doublet of cancer. The historical trail runs through cancre in Old French and cancer in Latin. Used as a noun and verb, canker now means "a spreading ulcer or plant sore; a corrupting influence", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as cankered and cankerous and related forms such as cancer. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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