Canker
/ˈkæŋkɚ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA plant disease marked by gradual decay.
nounA region of dead plant tissue caused by such a disease.
Sentence Examples
I bit the inside of my lip and got a canker sore.
My canker hurts, so I can't really eat.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ on the tree trunk caused the branch to wither completely.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The tree was suffering from a ____ that was slowly destroying its bark.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English canker, cancre, from Old English cancer (“cancer; crab”), akin to Dutch kanker, Old High German chanchar. Ultimately from Latin cancer (“a cancer”). Doublet of cancer, a later borrowing from Latin, and chancre, which came through French.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Slightly sunken brown cankers of variable size and shape affect stem parts primarily below the soil line."
— 1977, The Potato: Major Diseases and Nematodes, International Potato Center, page 46:
"loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud[…]"
— 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 35”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
"the cankers of envy and faction"
— c. 1690, Sir William Temple, Of Heroick Virtue:
"There’s canker at the root, your seed
Denies the blessing of the sun,
The light essential to your need.
Your hopes are murdered and undone."
— 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Feud”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4:
"To put down Richard, that ſweet louely Roſe,
And plant this thorne, this canker Bullingbrooke?"
— c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature [B.iv.], recto:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ on the tree trunk caused the branch to wither completely.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The tree was suffering from a ____ that was slowly destroying its bark.