canker

Meaning

Noun

1. A plant disease marked by gradual decay.
2. A region of dead plant tissue caused by such a disease.
3. A worm or grub that destroys plant buds or leaves; cankerworm.
4. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; especially a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth.
5. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroys.
6. A kind of wild rose; the dog rose.
7. An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungoid growths. Usually resulting from neglected thrush.
8. An avian disease affecting doves, poultry, parrots and birds of prey, caused by Trichomonas gallinae.

Verb

1. To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consume.
2. To infect or pollute; to corrupt.
3. To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral.
4. To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous.

Synonyms

sore

ulcer

eat away

abscess

canker sore

cancer

♋

carcinoma

pestilence

wound

lesion

minus

plague

rot

rottenness

rust

scourge

tarnish

tumour

woodworm

become gangrenous

worm-hole

a kind of mouth disease

boil

caries

cold sore

corrode

destroy

evil

injury

laceration

Hyphenated as

can‧ker

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæŋkɚ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: canker

Inherited from Old English: cancer

Inherited from Middle English: cankren

In summary

From Middle English canker, cancre, from Old English cancer, akin to Dutch kanker, Old High German chanchar. Ultimately from Latin cancer (“a cancer”). Doublet of cancer, a later borrowing from Latin, and chancre, which came through French.