Relating to, affected by, or resembling cancer; also used metaphorically to describe something harmful that spreads and corrupts.
From Latin 'cancer' meaning crab, named because of how tumors spread like crab legs. The disease was named by ancient Greeks who noticed the resemblance of spreading tumors to a crab's shape and movement.
The word 'cancer' comes from the crab shape of tumors, but that metaphor shows how ancient doctors—without microscopes—made brilliant observations about how diseases grow and spread, which helped launch modern medicine.
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