# Words for "cancer" in other languages

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 20, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538 "2000-01-20T16:21:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538/21 "2000-01-26T05:36:00Z")

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Here are the Celtic translations:

Irish: ailse  
Scots Gaelic: aillse  
Manx: kanghyr  
Welsh: cancr  
Breton: kankr

No Cornish dictionary, sorry.

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**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538/22 "2000-01-26T08:17:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Olentzero:  
> \*\*  
> While we’re on the subject, what the f\*ck is up with that idiotic “translation” into ‘Ebonics’?  
> \*\*

I believe that it was an allusion to a recent column.

As for why cancer = crab, I heard that it was because a cancer is like a crab pinching you from the inside. Although I suppose that there are other diseases that fit that description better.

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**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538/23 "2000-01-26T08:29:00Z")

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So why does handy preserve the ‘To’ (capitalized, yet) through French and Spanish, from the English ‘Greek-to-English’, rather than use _à_ and _a_ respectively in the respective proper word orders? And, of course, the language we speak is _inglés_, not _inglesa_, (irrespective of _etimología_’s gender).

Oh, yeah, about ‘cancer’, well, OK, my contribution from my Italian dictionary:

_cancro_ (_Cancro_ for the constellation / astrological sign)

So what’s the point of this game? There are plenty of foreign-language dictionaries on the Web:  
[http://www.personal.u-net.com/~yandy/search/Dictionaries.html](http://www.personal.u-net.com/~yandy/search/Dictionaries.html)

, for example.

Ray

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**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-for-cancer-in-other-languages/6538/24 "2000-01-26T15:57:00Z")

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I realize this is a little off the subject, but since someone mentioned Coca-Cola in China, it brought this to mind. From one of those text files floating around the net:

> [@](#):
>
> The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la.  
> Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of  
> signs had been printed that the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or  
> “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect. Coke then  
> researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent,  
> “ko-kou-ko-le,” which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth.”

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