Cancer

//ˈkænsə// adj, name, noun, slang

adj, name, noun, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation. countable, uncountable

    "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."

  2. 2
    Someone with a Cancer star sign.

    "‘All right, so what are Cancers apart from sad, then?’ Lizzie asked."

  3. 3
    (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Cancer wordnet
  4. 4
    Something damaging that spreads throughout something else. countable, figuratively, uncountable

    "The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul."

  5. 5
    any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division; it may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Extremely unpleasant and annoying. slang

    "I used to love this game, but the new meta is straight up cancer."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured in the shape of a crab.

    "And add more coals to Cancer when he burns / With entertaining great Hyperion."

  2. 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).

Synonyms

All synonyms
growthcrabaidsbenign tumorbig dipperblast

Example

More examples

"Tiny particles in the air can cause cancer."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin cancer (“crab”), calque of Ancient Greek Καρκίνος (Karkínos, “crab”), calque of Akkadian 𒀀𒇻𒌅 (allutu, “crab”), from Sumerian 𒀯𒀠𒈜 (ᵐᵘˡAL.LUL, “crab; name of constellation”).

Related phrases

I have cancerTropic of Cancerabdominal canceranal canceranti-cancerbile duct cancerbiliary tract cancerblack cancerbladder cancerblood cancerbone cancerboob cancer

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.