canker

Definition

A plant disease marked by gradual decay.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "Slightly sunken brown cankers of variable size and shape affect stem parts primarily below the soil line."
• "loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud[…]"
• "the cankers of envy and faction"