Cankering

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Causing ongoing bitterness, resentment, or malicious feelings ; causing decay or disease in plants or tissues
2. Producing continual irritation or harmful influence in relationships or emotions ; leading to the gradual deterioration or infection of biological material
3. Spreading persistent harm through bitterness or persistent annoyance ; inducing rot, decay, or disease in living organisms

Etymology: The verb "canker" is the older and more basic word here, and its surprise is that it began as the name of a disease in the mouth and skin, not of an animal or a rot. "Cankering" is simply the present participle of the verb "to canker," so it describes something that is actively doing that work. Its roots run back through Old English "cancer," which meant both "cancer" and "crab," a link that the Latin "cancer" also carried, since the crab was the image people used for the spreading, clawing growth. The verb came in a second wave. Middle English had the noun "canker" or "cancre," and from that noun a verb "cankren" was formed, which is where the sense of gradual corruption comes from. Over time, the medical image of a sore that eats outward became a figure for anything that slowly damages from within, such as a grudge, a quarrel, or a habit of mind.

Synonyms: corroding, decaying, deteriorating, rotting, infecting

Antonyms: healing, repairing, restoring, mending, reviving