To become diseased or corrupted, especially with canker; to decay or rot.
Short form related to 'canker', which comes from Old Norman French 'chancre', ultimately from Latin 'cancer' meaning crab or malignant growth. The verb form developed as people needed to describe the process of becoming cankered.
The word 'cancer' and 'cank' share the same ancient root—the Romans thought the disease looked like a crab (cancer) eating into flesh, so 'canker' is literally a smaller corruption of the same image.
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