English
carcinoma
Carcinoma comes from Latin carcinōma ‘tumour’, from Ancient Greek κᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰ ‘sore, ulcer’, and ultimately from καρκίνος ‘crab’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκαρκίνοςkarkínos‘crab’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEκαρκινόω‘to suffer from cancer’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEκᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰkărkĭ́nōmă‘sore, ulcer’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarcinōma‘tumour’
- Englishearliest quotation 1601carcinoma
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκαρκίνοςkarkínos‘crab’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEκαρκινόω‘to suffer from cancer’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEκᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰkărkĭ́nōmă‘sore, ulcer’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarcinōma‘tumour’
- Englishearliest quotation 1601carcinoma
Earliest quotation: 1601, Caius Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder]: “Take the fatteſt and fulleſt Figs you can get,…”
The story
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).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
short, across, cross, share, screen, score, cancer, shirt, card, circle, curve, circuit, crucial, skirt, curb, circulation, scare, crest, cancellation, circus, scrutiny, shrine, carnival, corona, scorpion, scar, shred, shear, raffle, corolla, scorn, shrewd, crux, circa, carnage, riddance, incarceration, circulate, crepe, corgi, 119 more
Today it means
noun An invasive malignant tumour derived from epithelial tissue that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek καρκίνος / carcinoma