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Cancer.

A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured in the shape of a crab.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈkænsə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkænsɚ/General-American
  1. A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured in the shape of a crab.

  2. The zodiac sign for the crab, ruled by the Moon and covering June 22–July 22 (tropical astrology) or July 16–August 15 (sidereal astrology).

Where this word comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin cancer (“crab”), calque of Ancient Greek Καρκίνος (Karkínos, “crab”), calque of Akkadian 𒀀𒇻𒌅 (allutu, “crab”), from Sumerian 𒀯𒀠𒈜 (ᵐᵘˡAL.LUL, “crab; name of constellation”).

noun/ˈkænsə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkænsɚ/General-American
  1. Someone with a Cancer star sign.

Where this word comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin cancer (“crab”), calque of Ancient Greek Καρκίνος (Karkínos, “crab”), calque of Akkadian 𒀀𒇻𒌅 (allutu, “crab”), from Sumerian 𒀯𒀠𒈜 (ᵐᵘˡAL.LUL, “crab; name of constellation”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.