癌
- cancer;
- malignant tumor;
A disease characterized by abnormal cell growth forming malignant masses.
Etymology
Compound of meaning and sound elements:
疒 (녁, “sickness”) — semantic, indicating disease.
嵒 (암, variant of 岩 “rock”) — phonetic, derived from 岩 (rock, cliff).
The form combines the “sickness” radical with a phonetic element signifying “rock,” reflecting the traditional medical perception of a hard mass inside the body resembling a stone.
Thus, 癌 literally conveys the idea of a rock-like tumor.
Usage in Korean
암 (癌) — general term for cancer
위암 (胃癌) — stomach cancer
폐암 (肺癌) — lung cancer
간암 (肝癌) — liver cancer
유방암 (乳房癌) — breast cancer
혈암 (血癌) — leukemia (lit. “blood cancer,” colloquial)
Words that derived from 癌
Additional notes
In traditional Chinese medicine, hardened lumps or internal swellings were metaphorically called “rocks” (岩) within the body.
The character 癌 arose by combining 嵒 (a variant of 岩) with 疒 to clarify the pathological sense.
It appeared sporadically in medical writings of late imperial China, then became standardized in the modern era to denote malignant tumors.
