cancerous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cancrous,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin cancerosus (“affected by cancer”), also cancrosus, recorded from the 4th century,^[3] from classical Latin cancer (“crab; cancer”) and the suffix -ōsus.^[3] The MED gives Medieval Latin cancrōsus and Old French chancros as its sources.^[2] Etymonline and the SOED instead take it as formed from English cancer + -ous in the 16th century,^[4][5] as does Merriam-Webster.^[6] The OED compares cankerous.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of cancer: before 1425, in a Middle English translation of Chauliac, of flesh that is not fraudulent ne cancrose (the Latin original has cancrosa).^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1560s, in the sense "afflicted with cancer",^[4] and the SOED to the mid 16th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its medical sense, both "affected by cancer" and "of the nature of a cancer".^[3][6] The figurative sense, like a cancer in spreading and destroying, is recorded from the 1660s;^[4][3] Johnson (1755) defined the word as having the virulence and qualities of a cancer.^[7] The derivatives cancerously and cancerousness appear in the mid 18th century.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1425 – of the nature of cancer, as cancrose.^[3][2]
• 1560s – afflicted with cancer.^[4]
• 1660s – figurative, like a cancer, spreading and virulent.^[4]
• mid 18th century – cancerously and cancerousness.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Affected with cancer: a cancerous kidney.^[6][5]
2. Of, relating to or being a cancer: cancerous cells.^[6][5]
3. Spreading and destroying like a cancer; malignant: the cancerous growth of corruption.^[6][5][4]

Word family

• uncancerous
• noncancerous
• precancerous

Related words

• cancer
• canker
• cankerous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.