Cancer in Different Languages
Discover 'Cancer' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Cancer
Afrikaans kanker | ||
Albanian kanceri | ||
Amharic ካንሰር | ||
Arabic سرطان | ||
Armenian քաղցկեղ | ||
Assamese কৰ্কট | ||
Aymara kansira | ||
Azerbaijani xərçəng | ||
Bambara kansɛri | ||
Basque minbizia | ||
Belarusian рак | ||
Bengali ক্যান্সার | ||
Bhojpuri कैंसर | ||
Bosnian rak | ||
Bulgarian рак | ||
Catalan càncer | ||
Cebuano cancer | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 癌症 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 癌症 | ||
Corsican cancru | ||
Croatian rak | ||
Czech rakovina | ||
Danish kræft | ||
Dhivehi ކެންސަރު | ||
Dogri कैंसर | ||
Dutch kanker | ||
English cancer | ||
Esperanto kancero | ||
Estonian vähk | ||
Ewe kansa | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kanser | ||
Finnish syöpä | ||
French cancer | ||
Frisian kanker | ||
Galician cancro | ||
Georgian კიბო | ||
German krebs | ||
Greek καρκίνος | ||
Guarani mba'asyvai | ||
Gujarati કેન્સર | ||
Haitian Creole kansè | ||
Hausa ciwon daji | ||
Hawaiian maʻi ʻaʻai | ||
Hebrew סרטן | ||
Hindi कैंसर | ||
Hmong mob cancer | ||
Hungarian rák | ||
Icelandic krabbamein | ||
Igbo kansa | ||
Ilocano kanser | ||
Indonesian kanker | ||
Irish ailse | ||
Italian cancro | ||
Japanese 癌 | ||
Javanese kanker | ||
Kannada ಕ್ಯಾನ್ಸರ್ | ||
Kazakh қатерлі ісік | ||
Khmer មហារីក | ||
Kinyarwanda kanseri | ||
Konkani कर्करोग | ||
Korean 암 | ||
Krio kansa | ||
Kurdish qansêr | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) شێرپەنجە | ||
Kyrgyz рак | ||
Lao ມະເລັງ | ||
Latin cancer | ||
Latvian vēzis | ||
Lingala kansere | ||
Lithuanian vėžys | ||
Luganda kookolo | ||
Luxembourgish kriibs | ||
Macedonian рак | ||
Maithili कैंसर | ||
Malagasy cancer | ||
Malay barah | ||
Malayalam കാൻസർ | ||
Maltese kanċer | ||
Maori mate pukupuku | ||
Marathi कर्करोग | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯥꯏꯔꯦꯜ ꯁꯖꯤꯛ | ||
Mizo ngawt | ||
Mongolian хорт хавдар | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ကင်ဆာ | ||
Nepali क्यान्सर | ||
Norwegian kreft | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) khansa | ||
Odia (Oriya) କର୍କଟ | ||
Oromo kaansarii | ||
Pashto سرطان | ||
Persian سرطان | ||
Polish rak | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) câncer | ||
Punjabi ਕਸਰ | ||
Quechua cancer | ||
Romanian cancer | ||
Russian рак | ||
Samoan kanesa | ||
Sanskrit कर्करोग | ||
Scots Gaelic aillse | ||
Sepedi kankere | ||
Serbian карцином | ||
Sesotho mofetše | ||
Shona gomarara | ||
Sindhi ڪينسر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පිළිකා | ||
Slovak rakovina | ||
Slovenian raka | ||
Somali kansarka | ||
Spanish cáncer | ||
Sundanese kanyeri | ||
Swahili saratani | ||
Swedish cancer | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) cancer | ||
Tajik саратон | ||
Tamil புற்றுநோய் | ||
Tatar яман шеш | ||
Telugu క్యాన్సర్ | ||
Thai โรคมะเร็ง | ||
Tigrinya መንሽሮ | ||
Tsonga mfukuzana | ||
Turkish kanser | ||
Turkmen rak | ||
Twi (Akan) kokoram | ||
Ukrainian рак | ||
Urdu کینسر | ||
Uyghur راك | ||
Uzbek saraton | ||
Vietnamese ung thư | ||
Welsh canser | ||
Xhosa umhlaza | ||
Yiddish ראַק | ||
Yoruba akàn | ||
Zulu umdlavuza |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "kanker" can also refer to a derogatory term for a person, or in the idiom "soos 'n kanker", can mean "aggressively" or "persistently" |
| Albanian | The Albanian word 'kanceri' is derived from the Latin word 'cancer', which means 'crab', as the disease was once thought to resemble a crab's pincers. |
| Amharic | "ካንሰር" derives from the Greek "karkinos" (crab), named for the characteristic shape of tumors. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "سرطان" (cancer) is cognate with the Hebrew word "סרטן" (sartan), both of which mean "crab". |
| Armenian | The Armenian word 'քաղցկեղ' has origins in the Greek word 'καρκίνος', which originally referred to the horseshoe crab rather than a disease. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "xərçəng" is derived from the Persian word "kharechang" which is the name of a kind of crab. |
| Basque | The word 'minbizia' in Basque is derived from 'min' (pain) and 'bizi' (life), suggesting a painful state of existence. |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word “рак” (“cancer”) is cognate with the Russian word “рак”, which refers to the astrological sign of Cancer. |
| Bengali | The word "ক্যান্সার" comes from the Latin word "cancer", meaning "crab", as the appearance of the diseased tissue resembles a crab. |
| Bosnian | Bosnian "rak" derives from Proto-Slavic "*raky" meaning "lobster, crayfish" or "crab", with the "cancer" meaning being a later development, likely influenced by the resemblance of tumors to crustaceans |
| Bulgarian | The word "рак" also means "crayfish" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "càncer" also means "crab" or "zodiac sign of Cancer". |
| Cebuano | In Cebuano, the word "cancer" also refers to a type of skin lesion or ulcer. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 癌症一词最早出现在西周时期，指一种能致命的疾病，后逐渐演变成指恶性肿瘤。 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 癌症 ('cancer') is a loanword from Japanese that entered the Chinese lexicon in the 19th century to describe a particular type of malignant tumor, and has since been generalized to refer to all types of cancer. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "cancru" is derived from the Latin "cancer" and shares the same meaning, but it also has a secondary meaning of "crab". |
| Croatian | In Croatian, 'rak' has Indo-European roots and can also mean 'crab' or 'crayfish'. |
| Czech | The Czech word "rakovina" comes from the word "rak", meaning "crayfish", as crayfish were believed to cause cancer in the past. |
| Danish | The word kræft, meaning cancer, comes from the Latin word "cancer," a crab, because tumors were thought to resemble crabs. |
| Dutch | In Dutch, the word "kanker" can also refer to a type of ulcer or sore, derived from the Latin "cancer" meaning "crab". |
| Esperanto | The word "kancero" in Esperanto is derived from the Latin word "cancer", which means "crab". |
| Estonian | "Vähk" is a cognate of "viga" meaning "injury" or "fault", and also the name for the crayfish, a type of crustacean. |
| Finnish | "Syöpä" is derived from "syöpö", an extinct Proto-Uralic language cognate meaning "a rotten wound." |
| French | The French word "cancer" can also refer to a crab or a crayfish. |
| Frisian | In Frisian, 'kanker' also means 'gangrene', 'ulcer' or a 'malignant tumour'. |
| Galician | "Cancro" comes from the Latin word "cancer" and has other meanings in Galician, such as "gangrene" and "tumor". |
| Georgian | The word "კიბო" is also used to refer to a "crab" in Georgian, reflecting the ancient belief that the disease was caused by a crab-like creature attaching itself to the body. |
| German | Krebs is also the German word for the animal "crab" and is cognate with the English word "crayfish." |
| Greek | The word "Καρκίνος" can also refer to crustaceans, particularly crabs, and was used by Hippocrates to describe cancerous tumors due to their resemblance to the shape of a crab. |
| Gujarati | The word "કેન્સર" (cancer) comes from the Greek word "karkinos," meaning "crab," as the disease was thought to resemble a crab's claws. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "kansè" in Haitian Creole also means "a disease that causes a sore in the mouth". |
| Hausa | In Hausa, the word "ciwon daji" literally means "bad disease" or "serious illness." |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, maʻi ʻaʻai refers to cancer as well as a plant, the common castor-oil plant. |
| Hebrew | סרטן, a word meaning 'cancer' in Hebrew, is also used as a zodiac sign, meaning 'crab' in its original language. |
| Hindi | In Hindi, कैंसर (cancer) also means a large black ant commonly found in India. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "mob cancer" not only means "cancer," but can also mean "a deadly disease that affects the body." |
| Hungarian | In Hungarian, "rák" also means "crayfish". |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "krabbamein" originally referred to a type of skin cancer, but now refers to all types of cancer. |
| Igbo | The word "kansa" in Igbo can also mean "scorpion" or "a type of worm that lives in trees". |
| Indonesian | "Kanker" is also used to refer to a type of ulcer on the skin, especially on the lips. |
| Irish | This word also has a meaning of "disease" when used with a definite article |
| Italian | The Italian word "cancro" comes from the Latin word "cancer," which means "crab," referring to the crab-like shape of tumors. |
| Japanese | 癌 (がん) is a Japanese word that originally meant a tumor, but came to mean cancer in the 19th century. |
| Javanese | Kanker in Javanese has two meanings: cancer (the medical condition) and syphilis. |
| Kannada | The word 'ಕ್ಯಾನ್ಸರ್' also means 'crab' in Kannada, a name given due to its likeness to the shape of a crab. |
| Khmer | The word មហារីក can also mean "tumor" or "abnormal growth" in Khmer. |
| Korean | The Korean word |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word “qansêr” is possibly derived from Greek "karkinos," meaning “crab," likely referring to the crab-like shape of cancerous tumors. |
| Kyrgyz | В старославянском языке слово «рак» обозначало «краб», «рак, омар» или «раковое заболевание». |
| Lao | The Lao word ມະເລັງ is thought to come from the Sanskrit word मकर (makara) or the Pali word မကရ (makara), both of which refer to a monstrous aquatic creature. |
| Latin | The Latin word "cancer" also refers to a crab, leading to the zodiac sign Cancer and the constellation Cancer. |
| Latvian | The word "vēzis" also means "crawfish" in Latvian, possibly due to a perceived resemblance between the two. |
| Lithuanian | The word "vėžys" in Lithuanian can also refer to a crayfish, a type of freshwater crustacean. |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Kriibs" in Luxembourgish shares its root with "Krabbe" in German and "crab" in English, referring to the crustacean and its resemblance to the shape of the tumor. |
| Macedonian | In Macedonian, "рак" has a second meaning, which is "crab". |
| Malagasy | In Malagasy, "cancer" can also refer to certain types of sores or ulcers. |
| Malay | "Barah" (cancer in Malay) originally meant "disease" or "affliction," and is derived from the Sanskrit word "varaka," meaning "ulcer" or "scab." |
| Malayalam | The word "കാൻസർ" is derived from the Greek word "κἀρκίνος" (karkinos) which means "crab", likely due to the resemblance of a tumor to a crab. |
| Maltese | The word "kanċer" also refers to the zodiac sign Cancer in Maltese. |
| Maori | The alternate meanings of the Māori word “mate pukupuku” are “to choke”, “to be stifled”, and “to be suffocated.” |
| Marathi | The word "कर्करोग" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "करकरः", meaning "crab" or "tumor". |
| Mongolian | The word "хорт хавдар" can also refer to "crab" |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The Burmese word for "cancer" (ကင်ဆာ) comes from the Sanskrit word "karkata" (कर्कट), which means "crab". |
| Nepali | The word "क्यान्सर" is borrowed from Greek via English and Sanskrit and refers to a malignant growth in any part of the body. |
| Norwegian | The word kreft can also refer to the animal "crayfish" |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'khansa' is ultimately derived from the Proto-Bantu root *-káncá. |
| Pashto | The word "سرطان" is derived from the Persian word "سَرطان" (sartan), meaning "crab," and refers to the constellation Cancer. |
| Persian | The word "سرطان" in Persian is derived from Latin word "cancer", originally meaning "crab" which was used due to the appearance of certain tumors, and has a similar origin and meaning to the French "cancer" and Russian "рак". |
| Polish | The name "rak" likely derives from the Proto-Slavic root *rъkati "to torment." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, the word "câncer" can also refer to a growth or tumor, and its root is Latin, coming from the word "cancer," meaning "crab". |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਕਸਰ" also refers to a deficiency or lack in something. |
| Romanian | The word "cancer" in Romanian also means "scale" and comes from the Latin word "cancer" meaning "crab" |
| Russian | The word "рак" can also mean "crayfish" in Russian. |
| Samoan | The word "kanesa" also means "a kind of fish with blue spots" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "aillse" means "cancer" in English, but originally referred to "a foreign body" or "a stranger". |
| Serbian | The word "карцином" is derived from the Greek word "καρκίνωμα", which means "crab" or "tumor". |
| Sesotho | The word "mofetše" also means "bad sore" or "ulcer". |
| Shona | Gomarara is an alternate Shona word for cancer that means "the unstoppable one". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word ڪينسر (cancer) also means "crab" and is derived from the Sanskrit word "karkata," which means "crab." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The term "පිළිකා" (cancer) originates from the Sanskrit word "pilika," meaning "small reddish lump" or "pimple," and is used to describe the abnormal growth of cells that can invade and destroy nearby tissues. |
| Slovak | The word "rakovina" also refers to a freshwater crayfish in Slovak. |
| Slovenian | The word raka, meaning "cancer," also has several other meanings in Slovenian, including "shell" and "crab" |
| Somali | Somalis also call cancer kansarka to differentiate from other diseases |
| Spanish | The word "cáncer" in Spanish comes from the Latin word "cancer," which means "crab" and was used to describe tumors due to their resemblance to the shape of a crab. |
| Sundanese | Kanyeri is also used to refer to the zodiac sign Cancer in Sundanese astrology. |
| Swahili | "Saratani" in Swahili originally referred to several species of jellyfish but has come to mean "cancer" or other diseases associated with abnormal cell growth. |
| Swedish | The word "cancer" in Swedish comes from the Latin word "cancer" meaning "crab" and is cognate with the word "cancer" in English. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "kanser" is derived from the Spanish word "cáncer", which itself comes from the Latin word "cancer", meaning "crab". |
| Tajik | The word “саратон” means not only cancer but also a person or animal in the penultimate stage of illness. |
| Tamil | புற்றுநோய், 'wound' or 'ulcer', is related to the word 'பற்று' meaning 'attachment', signifying the clinging nature of the disease. |
| Telugu | In Telugu, "క్యాన్సర్" (cancer) comes from the Sanskrit word "कर्कट" (karkata), meaning "crab," as the disease was thought to resemble the shape of a crab clinging to the body. |
| Thai | The word โรคมะเร็ง comes from the Sanskrit word कर्क (karka) meaning 'crab', referring to the crab-like spreading of cancerous tumors. |
| Turkish | It also refers to ulceration, swelling, or a hole. |
| Ukrainian | The word "рак" can also mean "crayfish" in Ukrainian. |
| Urdu | The word "کینسر" (cancer) is derived from the Greek word "karkinos" meaning "crab", referring to the crab-like appearance of cancerous tumors. |
| Uzbek | The word "saraton" in Uzbek is derived from the Greek word "karkinos," meaning "crab," as the disease was thought to resemble the appearance of a crab. |
| Vietnamese | The word "ung thư" is derived from the Sanskrit word "karkata", meaning "crab", and the Chinese word "zhou", meaning "tumor". It was first used in Vietnamese in the 16th century to describe a type of skin cancer that resembled a crab. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word 'canser' can also refer to a 'crab' or 'crab louse'. |
| Xhosa | The word 'umhlaza' is also used to refer to other types of growths, such as warts and tumors. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "ראַק" can also refer to the zodiac sign Cancer. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "akàn" also refers to a type of plant believed to have medicinal properties. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "umdlavuza" is derived from the verb "lavuza," meaning "to hurt or to be wounded," reflecting the painful nature of cancer. |
| English | The word 'cancer' originates from the Greek word 'karkinos', meaning 'crab', due to the resemblance of the swollen veins around a tumor to the legs of a crab. |