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Webster 1913 Edition

Cancer

Can′cer

,
Noun.
[L.
cancer
,
cancri
, crab, ulcer, a sign of the zodiac; akin to Gr.
καρκίνος
, Skr.
karkaṭa
crab, and prob. Skr.
karkara
hard, the crab being named from its hard shell. Cf.
Canner
,
Chancre
.]
1.
(Zool.)
A genus of decapod Crustacea, including some of the most common shore crabs of Europe and North America, as the rock crab, Jonah crab, etc. See
Crab
.
2.
(Astron.)
(a)
The fourth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The first point is the northern limit of the sun’s course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See
Tropic
.
(b)
A northern constellation between Gemini and Leo.
3.
(Med.)
Formerly, any malignant growth, esp. one attended with great pain and ulceration, with cachexia and progressive emaciation. It was so called, perhaps, from the great veins which surround it, compared by the ancients to the claws of a crab. The term is now restricted to such a growth made up of aggregations of epithelial cells, either without support or embedded in the meshes of a trabecular framework.
☞ Four kinds of cancers are recognized: (1)
Epithelial cancer
, or
Epithelioma
, in which there is no trabecular framework. See
Epithelioma
. (2)
Scirrhous cancer
, or
Hard cancer
, in which the framework predominates, and the tumor is of hard consistence and slow growth. (3)
Encephaloid cancer
,
Medullary cancer
, or
Soft cancer
, in which the cellular element predominates, and the tumor is soft, grows rapidy, and often ulcerates. (4)
Colloid cancer
, in which the cancerous structure becomes gelatinous. The last three varieties are also called
carcinoma
.
Cancer cells
,
cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping.
–
Cancer root
(Bot.)
,
the name of several low plants, mostly parasitic on roots, as the beech drops, the squawroot, etc.
–
Tropic of Cancer
.
See
Tropic
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cancer

CANCER

,
Noun.
1.
The crab or crab-fish. This genus of animals have generally eight legs, and two claws which serve as hands; two distant eyes, supported by a kind of peduncles, and they are elongated and movable. They have also two clawed palpi, and the tail is jointed. To this genus belong the lobster, shrimp, cray-fish, &c.
2.
In astronomy, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented by the form of a crab, and limiting the suns course northward in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice.
3.
In medicine, a roundish, hard, unequal, scirrous tumor of the glands, which usually ulcerates, is very painful, and generally fatal.

Definition 2024

Cancer

Cancer

Translingual

Etymology

From Latin cancer ‎(“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος ‎(karkínos, “crab”).

Proper noun

Cancer m

  1. A taxonomic genus within the family Cancridae – true crabs, distinguished by the presence of a single posterolateral spine (on the edge of the carapace, towards the rear), anterolateral spines with deep fissures (on the carapace edge, towards the front), and a short extension of the carapace forward between the eyes.

Hyponyms

English

Signs of the Zodiac
Gemini Leo
English Wikipedia has an article about Cancer.

Proper noun

Cancer (symbol ♋)

  1. (astronomy) A constellation of the zodiac supposedly shaped like a crab.
  2. (astrology) The zodiac sign for the crab, ruled by the Moon and covering June 22 - July 22 (tropical astrology) or July 16 - August 15 (sidereal astrology).

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Cancer ‎(plural Cancers)

  1. Someone with a Cancer star sign

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

cancer

cancer

English

cancer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Noun

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:
      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.
  2. (figuratively) Something which spreads within something else, damaging the latter.
    • 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

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Danish

Noun

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

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

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin cancer. Doublet of chancre.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɑ̃.sɛʁ/

Noun

cancer m ‎(plural cancers)

  1. cancer

Latin

Etymology

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". Cognate with Latin carcer and curvus.

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈkan.ker/, [ˈkaŋ.kɛr]

Noun

cancer m ‎(genitive cancrī); second declension

  1. a crab
  2. a tumor, cancer
  3. a lattice, grid, or barrier

Inflection

Second declension, nominative singular in -er.

Case Singular Plural
nominative cancer cancrī
genitive cancrī cancrōrum
dative cancrō cancrīs
accusative cancrum cancrōs
ablative cancrō cancrīs
vocative cancer1 cancrī

1May also be cancre.

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin cancer, French cancer.

Noun

cancer n ‎(plural cancere)

  1. cancer

Declension

Related terms

  • canceros

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

cancer c

  1. (medicine, oncology, pathology) cancer

Declension

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

Usage notes

  • Until circa 1970, the word kräfta was also used.

Related terms

  • cancersvulst
  • bröstcancer
  • hudcancer
  • lungcancer

References

Etymology

From Latin cancer ‎(“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος ‎(karkínos, “crab”).

Pronunciation

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