carcinoma

carcinoma

English

WOTD – 4 February 2022

Etymology

A large carcinoma (sense 1) in a human lung.

Learned borrowing from Latin carcinōma (“tumour; ulcer; carcinoma”), from Ancient Greek κᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰ (karkínōma, “sore, ulcer; cancer”), from καρκινοῦν (karkinoûn, “to make (something) resemble a crab”), καρκινοῦσθαι (karkinoûsthai, “to become cancerous; to suffer from cancer”, passive) + -μᾰ (-ma, suffix attached to verbs to form neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, a particular instance of an action, or the object of an action). Καρκινοῦν (Karkinoûn) is derived from καρκῐ́νος (karkínos, “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),[1] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend; to turn”) (as a crab’s pincers form a circle) + *-iHnos (suffix forming adjectives of materials).[2] 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 (karkinṓmata).

Pronunciation

• Singular:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːsɪˈnəʊmə/, /ˌkɑːsnˈəʊmə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹsɪˈnoʊmə/, /-sə-/
  • Rhymes: -əʊmə
  • Hyphenation: car‧ci‧no‧ma
• Plural (carcinomata):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːsɪˈnəʊmətə/, /ˌkɑːsnˈəʊmətə/[3]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹsɪˈnoʊmətə/, /-sə-/, [-ɾə][4]
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːsɪnəʊˈmɑːtə/, /ˌkɑːsnəʊˈmɑːtə/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹsɪnoʊˈmɑtə/, /-sə-/, [-ɾə]
  • Hyphenation: car‧ci‧no‧ma‧ta

Noun

carcinoma (countable and uncountable, plural carcinomas or carcinomata) (oncology)

1. (countable) An invasive malignant tumour derived from epithelial tissue that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body.
2. (obsolete, countable) A form of cancer; (uncountable) cancer in general as a disease.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIII.] Of Peares, and the Properties Observed in Them. Of Tame Figge Trees, and Their Figges. Of the Wild Figge Tree. Of Erineus, and Other Plants, with the Medicines which They Affourd..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the VVorld. Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie of C. Plinivs Secvndus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, OCLC 1180792622, page 167:

     Take the fatteſt and fulleſt Figs you can get, lay them upon the ugly and ill favored tumor called Carcinoma, i. the Canker, ſo it be not yet exulcerat, I aſſure you it is a ſoveraine remedie, and hardly can be matched againe: […]

Hypernyms

• cancer
• malignancy

Hyponyms

• adenocarcinoma
• lymphoma

Coordinate terms

• sarcoma

Derived terms

• adenocarcinoma
• adenosquamocarcinoma
• adrenocarcinoma
• anticarcinoma
• basal cell carcinoma
• carcinomagenesis
• carcinomal
• carcinomatoid
• carcinomatophobia
• carcinomatosis
• carcinomatous
• chimney sweep's carcinoma
• cholangiocarcinoma
• cholangocarcinoma
• cholioangiocarcinoma
• choriocarcinoma
• comedocarcinoma
• cystadenocarcinoma
• cystoadenocarcinoma
• cystocarcinoma
• dysgerminoma
• embryocarcinoma
• fibrocarcinoma
• gastroadenocarcinoma
• gastrocarcinoma
• hepatocarcinoma
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• hepatocholangiocarcinoma
• hidradenocarcinoma
• laryngocarcinoma
• macrocarcinoma
• mastocarcinoma
• melanocarcinoma
• microcarcinoma
• nasopharyngeal carcinoma
• nephrocarcinoma
• nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome
• nevoid basal-cell carcinoma syndrome
• osteocarcinoma
• paracarcinoma
• porocarcinoma
• prostatic adenocarcinoma
• renal cell carcinoma
• squamoadenocarcinoma
• teratocarcinoma
• tetracarcinoma

 

Related terms

• carcinoembryonic
• carcinogen
• carcinogenesis
• carcinogenic
• carcinoid
• carcinosis

 

Translations

invasive malignant tumor derived from epithelial tissue

Arabic: سرطانة‎, سَرَطَان‎ (saraṭān) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Basque: kartzinoma Bengali: কার্সিনোমা (karsinoma) Catalan: carcinoma (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 癌 (ngaam4) Mandarin: 癌 (zh) (ái) Czech: karcinom (cs) Danish: karcinom Dutch: carcinoom (nl) n Esperanto: karcinomo Estonian: kartsinoom Finnish: karsinooma (fi) French: carcinome (fr) Galician: carcinoma m Georgian: კარცინომა (ḳarcinoma) German: Karzinom (de) n Greek: καρκίνωμα (el) n (karkínoma) Hebrew: קרצינומה‎ (he) f Hungarian: karcinóma (hu) Ido: karcinomo (io) Indonesian: karsinoma (id) Irish: carcanóma m Italian: carcinoma (it) Japanese: 癌腫 (ja) (がんしゅ, ganshu) Korean: 암종(癌腫) (amjong) Latin: carcinōma (la) n Lithuanian: karcinoma Norwegian: Bokmål: karsinom Nynorsk: karsinom Persian: کارسینوما‎ Polish: rak (pl) m Portuguese: carcinoma m Romanian: carcinom (ro) n Russian: карцино́ма (ru) f (karcinóma) Scottish Gaelic: aillse f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: карцѝно̄м m Roman: karcìnōm (sh) m Slovene: karcinóm Spanish: carcinoma (es) m Swedish: karcinom (sv) n Tagalog: karsinoma Tatar: карцинома (qartsinoma) Thai: มะเร็ง (th) (má-reng) Tibetan: སྐྲན (skran) Turkish: karsinom Ukrainian: карцинома (karcynoma) Urdu: سرطانہ‎ Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• basalioma
• encephaloma (dated)
• fibroepithelioma
• melanoma

References

1. Paulus Ægineta (1846), “Book VI”, in , Francis Adams, transl., The Seven Books of Paulus Ægineta. Translated from the Greek. With a Commentary Embracing a Complete View of the Knowledge Possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on All Subjects Connected with Medicine and Surgery. […], volume II, London: […] [C. and J. Adlard] for the Sydenham Society, OCLC 1179476480, section XLV (On Cancer), page 332: “It [a tumour] has veins stretched on all sides as the animal the crab (cancer) has its feet, whence it derives its name.”
2. Compare “carcinoma, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “carcinoma, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
3. "carcinoma." Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary, Lexico
4. "carcinoma." www.merriam-webster.com

Further reading

• carcinoma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• macaronic, maccaroni

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Catalan

Noun

carcinoma m (plural carcinomes)

1. (oncology) carcinoma

Further reading

• “carcinoma” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Interlingua

Noun

carcinoma (plural carcinomas)

1. carcinoma

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin carcĭnōma (“a cancerous ulcer”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνωμα (karkínōma).

Noun

carcinoma m (plural carcinomi)

1. (oncology) carcinoma

Derived terms

• adenocarcinoma
• epatocarcinoma

Anagrams

• monacarci

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek καρκίνωμα (karkínōma).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kar.kiˈnoː.ma/, [kärkɪˈnoːmä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kar.t͡ʃiˈno.ma/, [kärt͡ʃiˈnɔːmä]

Noun

carcinōma n (genitive carcinōmatis); third declension

1. carcinoma

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	carcinōma	carcinōmata
Genitive	carcinōmatis	carcinōmatum
Dative	carcinōmatī	carcinōmatibus
Accusative	carcinōma	carcinōmata
Ablative	carcinōmate	carcinōmatibus
Vocative	carcinōma	carcinōmata

Descendants

• Catalan: carcinoma m
• Czech: karcinom
• Finnish: karsinooma
• French: carcinome
• Galician: carcinoma m
• German: Karzinom n
• Hungarian: karcinóma
• Ido: karcinomo
• Irish: carcanóma m
• Italian: carcinoma
• Portuguese: carcinoma
• Russian: карцино́ма f (karcinóma)
• Serbo-Croatian: karcinom m
• Spanish: carcinoma m
• Swedish: karcinom n
• Tagalog: karsinoma

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Portuguese

Noun

carcinoma m (plural carcinomas)

1. (oncology) carcinoma (type of malignant tumour)

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin carcinōma, from Ancient Greek καρκίνωμα (karkínōma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /kaɾθiˈnoma/ [kaɾ.θiˈno.ma]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /kaɾsiˈnoma/ [kaɾ.siˈno.ma]
• Rhymes: -oma
• Syllabification: car‧ci‧no‧ma

Noun

carcinoma m (plural carcinomas)

1. (oncology) carcinoma (type of malignant tumour)

Related terms

• carcinomatosis

Further reading

• “carcinoma”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014