carcinoma

Etymology

lung.]] Learned borrowing from Latin carcinōma (“tumour; ulcer; carcinoma”), from Ancient Greek κᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰ (karkínōma, “sore, ulcer; cancer”), from καρκινοῦν (karkinoûn, “to make (something) resemble a crab”), καρκινοῦσθαι (karkinoûsthai, “to become cancerous; to suffer from cancer”, passive) + -μᾰ (-ma, suffix attached to verbs to form neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, a particular instance of an action, or the object of an action). Καρκινοῦν (Karkinoûn) is derived from καρκῐ́νος (karkínos, “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), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend; to turn”) (as a crab’s pincers form a circle) + *-iHnos (suffix forming adjectives of materials). 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 (karkinṓmata).

noun

1. (countable) An invasive malignant tumour derived from epithelial tissue that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body.
2. (obsolete, countable) A form of cancer; (uncountable) cancer in general as a disease.