cancrizans

adjective

can·​cri·​zans

ˈkaŋkrə̇ˌzanz,

-ank-

music

: crab entry 3

Schoenberg's "Mondfleck" from Pierrot Lunaire is a vocal line accompanied by a double canon played in cancrizans fashion and a simultaneous three-part fugue.

—Edmund Dehnert, in The Languages of Creativity, 1986

a cancrizans passage

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin, present participle of cancrizare to go backwards, from Latin cancr-, cancer crab + Late Latin -izare -ize

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined above

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