English Explanatory Dictionary

cancer

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
  2. Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
adj
  1. Extremely unpleasant and annoying.
name
  1. A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured in the shape of a crab.
  2. 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).
noun
  1. Someone with a Cancer star sign.

Pronunciation

/ˈkænsə/ /ˈkæːnsə/ /ˈkænsɚ/ en-us-cancer.ogg En-uk-cancer.ogg

Word forms

cancer cancers more cancer most cancer ♋︎

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

malignancy growth lichen cancerous AIDS Cancer Crab Cancerian

Antonyms

Capricornus

Related words

Cancer cancerization cancerize cancerous canker carcinogen chancre precancerous benignancy leukemia lymphoma malignancy melanoma

Derived words

cancerwort cancer bush cancer stick cancer root abdominal cancer anal cancer anti-cancer bile duct cancer biliary tract cancer black cancer bladder cancer blood cancer bone cancer boob cancer bowel cancer brain cancer breast cancer cervical cancer cheek cancer chimney sweep's cancer colon cancer colonic cancer colorectal cancer concrete cancer duodenal cancer ear cancer esophageal cancer eye cancer gallbladder cancer gastric cancer gay cancer give someone ass cancer give someone butt cancer green cancer gum cancer head and neck cancer head-neck cancer heart cancer hepatic cancer hypopharyngeal cancer I have cancer intestinal cancer jaw cancer kairo cancer kidney cancer laryngeal cancer larynx cancer lip cancer liver cancer lung cancer lymphatic cancer lymph gland cancer lymph node cancer mismatch repair cancer syndrome mouth cancer mule spinner's cancer mule spinners' cancer multi-cancer nasal cancer neck and head cancer
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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