(noun. KAN-suhr)
by Yasemin Cole
What does it mean?
An abnormal and uncontrollable increase in the number and growth of cells that can spread to other parts of the body. Typically, the Latin suffix “oma” is used to indicate an abnormal growth, such as lymphoma or angioma.
How do I use it in a sentence?
“The HeLa cancer cells, tagged with a fluorescent marker of cell division, glowed under the microscope.”
Image created by author using Biorender
Etymology:
This word has its roots in Egypt, where Papyrus documents from 3000 BC described cancer. However, the term wasn’t commonly used at the time. Hippocrates was the first to use the Greek words carcinoma and carcinos to describe the masses he observed in individuals.
History of usage:
You may have seen the astrological constellation cancer in the sky, which is in the shape of a crab. This is partly because the word has Greek origins in 400 B.C. when Hippocrates coined the word. Celus later used this term in a medical encyclopedia in 47 AD. Even later, Galen described the metastases of breast cancer into the surrounding veins as the legs of crabs extending from the body, solidifying the usage of the word. It wasn’t until the 1850s, when scientists were able to visualize these cells underneath a microscope, that we understood the cellular nature of cancer.
Related terms:
Tumor
Metastasis
Pathology
Fields of study in which this word is commonly used:
Embryology
Cancer Biology
Pathology
Neurology
Immunology
