This week's theme: less-known synonyms of everyday words.
cancrine (KANG-krin) adjective
1. Reading the same backwards as forwards, palindromic. For example,
"A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." (letter cancrine)
"So patient a doctor to doctor a patient so!" (word cancrine)
2. Crab-like.
[From Latin cancr- (stem of cancer) cancer + -ine.]
J.S. Bach's Crab Canon is an example of cancrine music:
http://www.derek-hasted.co.uk/takeaway/free-guitar-music-gifs/crab.html
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"At Hingham Church in Norfolk there is a curious cancrine inscription over
the font."
R. Hart; Ecclesiastical Records; 1846.
(from the OED)
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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/cancrine.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/cancrine.ram
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