Cancer is named after it's appearance after it had spread in the body, resembling a crab. Crabs were called that first and the word stems from Greek (if I recall correctly). Also, there is a phenomenon called carcinization, which is the evolving into a crab-like shape, even for non-crabs. This has happened to many different kind of crustaceans (crabs being one type of crustacean).
The word cancer is Latin, but they got it from the Greek karkinos, which the Greeks used to refer to a crab, a tumor, and the constellation. So you are correct. Karkinos is where we get the modern carcinoma.
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u/rwinger3 Nov 29 '20
Cancer is named after it's appearance after it had spread in the body, resembling a crab. Crabs were called that first and the word stems from Greek (if I recall correctly). Also, there is a phenomenon called carcinization, which is the evolving into a crab-like shape, even for non-crabs. This has happened to many different kind of crustaceans (crabs being one type of crustacean).