to eat cancer (disease) 1 realization
ACCEPTED Realization 1
type Derivation
language Finnish
lexeme 1 syödä
lexeme 2 syöpä
meaning 1 to eat
direction
meaning 2 cancer (disease)
reference Kielitoimiston sanakirja Vahros, Ščerbakov 2007
comment

Literally, “that which eats”, so called because the disease was once believed to be caused by a worm that eats the body from inside. Compare the archaic synonyms ruumiinmato (literally “worm of the body”) and koi (literally “moth”).