Affected by canker disease; corrupted, decayed, or diseased, often used figuratively to mean morally corrupted.
Past participle of 'canker' used as an adjective. The term evolved from literal descriptions of diseased plants to metaphorical descriptions of corrupted people or systems.
Shakespeare used 'cankered' metaphorically to describe corrupt people—like a society's moral values being eaten away by disease—showing how diseases of plants became powerful symbols for human corruption.
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