Refine this word faster
Carcinoma
Definitions
- 1 An invasive malignant tumour derived from epithelial tissue that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body. countable
- 2 any malignant tumor derived from epithelial tissue; one of the four major types of cancer wordnet
- 3 A form of cancer; (uncountable) cancer in general as a disease. countable, obsolete
"Take the fatteſt and fulleſt Figs you can get, lay them upon the ugly and ill favored tumor called Carcinoma, i. the Canker, ſo it be not yet exulcerat, I aſſure you it is a ſoveraine remedie, and hardly can be matched againe: […]"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin carcinōma (“tumour; ulcer; carcinoma”), from Ancient Greek κᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰ (kărkĭ́nōmă, “sore, ulcer; cancer”), from καρκινόω (karkinóō, “to make (something) resemble a crab”, in the mediopassive "to become cancerous; to suffer from cancer") + -μᾰ (-mă, action noun suffix). Καρκινόω is derived from καρκῐ́νος (karkĭ́nos, “crab; the zodiac sign Cancer; sore, ulcer; cancer”) (according to Paul of Aegina (c. 625 – c. 690) in his Medical Compendium in Seven Books, because the veins surrounding a cancerous tumour resemble a crab’s legs). The English word is a doublet of cancer, and may be analysed as carcino- + -oma. The plural form carcinomata is a learned borrowing from Latin carcinōmata, from Ancient Greek κᾰρκῐνώμᾰτᾰ (kărkĭnṓmătă).
See also for "carcinoma"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: carcinoma