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to fungate

to fungate

1 9.9
To grow out from a wound or tumor in a soft mass that can break the skin and bleed
  • verb
  • /ˈfʌŋɡeɪt/
  • Specialized
: fungar
  • After the biopsy, the results showed a fungating growth that was affecting the surrounding tissue.

Examples

  • In some cases, cancers can appear as fungating masses that are visibly protruding on the skin.

  • What if you'd had fungating breast cancer?

    Blog text (11)
  • Direct laryngoscopy revealed a fungating mass on the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Physical examination was remarkable for the presence of a fungating mass filling the right pyriform sinus, as seen by the indirect laryngoscopy.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The doctor explained that the patient had a fungating tumor that required immediate attention.

Surface Forms

fungate infinitive
fungated past
fungated past participle
fungating present participle
fungates third person singular

Morphology

fungate = fungus (semi-transparent) = fung + ate

If a learner knows 'fungus', they can partly infer 'become or grow like a fungus', but the specialized medical sense about tumor growth is not fully predictable.

Etymology

The word fungate comes from the familiar word fungus meaning 'mushroom' and the ending -ate meaning 'to become' or 'to make'. So to fungate is to 'become like a fungus' — to grow outward in a mass, which is why doctors use it for tumors that spread and look like a fungal growth.