overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

canker.

A plant disease marked by gradual decay.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkæŋkɚ/General-American/ˈkæŋkə/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A plant disease marked by gradual decay.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A region of dead plant tissue caused by such a disease.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A worm or grub that destroys plant buds or leaves; cankerworm.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; especially a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth.

    countable · uncountable
  5. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroys.

    countable · uncountable
    the canker of destitution and violence.
  6. A kind of wild rose; the dog rose.

    countable · uncountable
  7. An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungoid growths. Usually resulting from neglected thrush.

    countable · uncountable
  8. An avian disease affecting doves, poultry, parrots and birds of prey, caused by Trichomonas gallinae.

    countable · uncountable
  9. A crab.

    Cornwall · countable · rare · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈkæŋkɚ/General-American/ˈkæŋkə/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consume.

    transitive
  2. To infect or pollute; to corrupt.

    transitive
  3. To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral.

    intransitive
  4. To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English cankren, from the noun (see above).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

canker has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

canker studiocanker workshello, canker

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.