Link Centre Dictionary

carcinoma

car·ci·noma

UK/ˌkɑːsɪˈnəʊmə/ US/ˌkɑːsnˈəʊmə/ uncommon obsolete

noun

1.

any malignant tumor derived from epithelial tissue; one of the four major types of cancer

Origin

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).

Phrases

  • adenoid cystic carcinoma
  • adenoidcystic carcinoma
  • basal cell carcinoma
  • chimney sweep's carcinoma
  • hepatocellular carcinoma
  • metaplastic carcinoma
  • nasopharyngeal carcinoma
  • nevoid basal-cell carcinoma syndrome

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.