big C

English

Etymology

From the first letter of cancer.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

the big C (uncountable)

1. (slang, euphemistic) cancer.
   • 1965, Time:

     You can always count on John Wayne, 57; he never steps out of character. "I kicked the Big C," growled the movie toughie, admitting that it was lung cancer that put him in Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital for surgery last September.