| Back | canker /KANG-kuhr/ |
|---|---|
| Front | noun 1. A source of corruption or decay. 2. Ulcerous sores in the mouth; also any of various diseases affecting animals and plants. verb tr., intr. 1. To corrupt or to become corrupted. 2. To infect with or be infected with canker. [From Old English cancer (crab, tumor). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kar-/ker- (hard), which also gave us standard, cancer, and hard. Earliest documented use: 1384.] "And in your family, so in the world ... we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain." - J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Bloomsbury; 2010. |
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