cankerworm

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noun

Either of two caterpillars, the larvae of geometrid moths, that are destructive to fruit, buds and leaves.

Scrabble 21
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Meanings

nouncankerworm (plural cankerworms)

plural cankerworms

  1. Either of two caterpillars, the larvae of geometrid moths, that are destructive to fruit, buds and leaves.
  2. figurativelyA corrupting or destructive force.

    O cursed Eld the cankerworme of writs, / How may these rimes, so rude as doth appeare, / Hope to endure, sith workes of heauenly wits / Are quite deuourd, and brought to nought by little bits?

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Origin

From canker + worm.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

crownmaker
Cite this entry
APA

cankerworm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cankerworm

MLA

“cankerworm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cankerworm. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cankerworm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cankerworm.

Source: cankerworm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.