# cancer

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkænsə/ · frequency rank #1,244

## Definitions
1. A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
2. Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.

## Easily confused with
- **cane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-cane)
- **cater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-cater)
- **canoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-canoe)
- **canes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-canes)
- **caper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-caper)
- **carer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-carer)
- **chance** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-chance)
- **center** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-center)
- **career** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-career)
- **Carter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-carter)
- **canned** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-canned)
- **Cannes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-cannes)
- **carver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-carver)
- **Casper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-casper)
- **confer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-confer)
- **concur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-concur)
- **cantor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-cantor)
- **caster** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-caster)
- **canoes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-canoes)
- **cinder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-cinder)

## Common misspellings (9)
`acncer`, `cacner`, `canccer`, `cancerr`, `cancre`, `canecr`, `canncer`, `ccancer`, `cnacer`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cancer