<p>My dictionary (《现代汉语词典》) says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>旧读yan2</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Which means it used to be read as yan2 in the past.</p>

<p>I don't know how long ago when the "yan2" reading disappeared, but currently the pronunciation is not used.</p>

<p>I personally never heard of the reading of "yan2" in my entire life. Only found it when I checked the dictionary.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T05:39:43.057Z
2018-05-23T05:39:43.057Z
fefe
<p>From <a href="http://www.shen-nong.com/chi/exam/specialties_cancermedicine.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">神農氏</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>中國傳統醫學對癌症的描述. 癌，系由古代巖、岩、嵒等字轉化而來。因癌瘤之形如岩石，累累堅硬，高突不平，故取其音義而名。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Chinese traditional medicine, cancer is described as like rock (岩), so it is pronounced as [yan2].</p>
<p>From <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%99%8C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiktionary,</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>In Mandarin, this character used to be pronounced identically as 岩 (yán). Its pronunciation was changed to ái in December 1962 to avoid the homophony between 癌 (“cancer”) and 炎 (yán, “inflammation”) (compare 肺炎 (fèiyán, “pneumonia”) and 肺癌 (fèi'ái, “lung cancer”)). The new pronunciation ái stems from dialectal pronunciations of 岩 (“rock; cliff”) /ŋai/, influenced by 崖 (yá, yái, “cliff”).</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.macaudata.com/macaubook/book244/html/04201.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">More info in Traditional Chinese</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>癌，在不同的地方有不同的讀音。在廣州話地區，它的粵音讀如“岩”，取“喦”之讀音；在內地，它的普通話讀如“皚”(ai)，即“埃”的第二聲；在台灣，它的國語讀音即讀如“岩”(yán)。</p>
<p>為甚麼“癌”字的讀音會有這些差異呢? “癌”字的最早注音，見於《中華大字典》：“癌讀若嵒。”一九一五年版的《辭源》，也注為“讀如喦”。喦，即岩的異體字。粵音據此一直至今都讀如“岩”。國語也曾一度據此讀如“岩”音。一九二一年，由民國政府的“國語統一籌備會”(魯迅也是該會會員)所訂正的《校改國音字典》，依然將“癌”的國音訂為“碞”。“碞”也是“岩”的異體字。直至今日，台灣也是按照這種讀音，沒有改變。</p>
<p>那麼，內地的普通話為甚麼又要把“癌”字改讀為“皚”音呢? 它又是甚麼時候改讀此音的呢? 原來，內地一直到一九六一年，都是把“癌”讀如“岩”的。當年, 新華字典大修，編者考慮到普通話中的“癌症”和“炎症”讀音完全一樣，容易造成混淆，故參考某些方言的“岩”字讀如“崖”音，於是便推薦“癌”讀“皚”音。一九六二年修訂的直排本《新華字典》，便將“癌”的國音注為ái，並用括號說明“舊讀yán”。一九六五年和一九七三年兩次印行的《現代漢語詞典》試用本，也都把“癌”字的注音改成“ái，(舊讀yán)”。</p>
<p>當時採用的這種注音方式，有兩個用意：一是表示ái，這個音不是印錯了，而是有意推荐的跟舊讀不同的音；二是表明，如果你不贊同ái的音，也可以讀舊音yán(岩)。</p>
<p>林語堂主編的台灣一九七二年版《當代漢英詞典》，一方面堅持“癌”的舊讀yán，另一方面則注明有人主張讀ái，用來跟“炎症”的“炎”區別。態度十分客觀。</p>
<p>到了一九八五年十二月，國家語言文字工作委員會、國家教育委員會、廣播電視部聯合頒佈了《普通話異讀詞審音表》，進一步取消了“癌”字的舊讀yán，統讀為ái。</p>
<p>至於粵音，由於“癌”與“炎”的讀音不同，不會混淆，所以毋需改讀，仍照舊讀如“岩”。</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T08:07:38.563Z
西南官话 seems to fit the dialectical part as far as I can tell.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T06:28:01.403Z
2018-05-24T09:57:03.377Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Nobody
<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=2&amp;wdqt=%E7%99%8C%0D%0A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MDBG</a>'s definition of 癌 says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>cancer / carcinoma / also pr. [yan2] </p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://www.moedict.tw/%E7%99%8C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MoE</a> put their main pronunciation of 癌 as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>yán</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Which might make it look like a TW thing but <a href="https://www.moedict.tw/~%E7%99%8C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">兩岸</a>'s entry just reads:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>ái</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When and/or where is 癌 pronounced yán?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T05:34:37.180Z
Never heard of it.
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T06:26:08.310Z
Some HK tv program say yan.
sfy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-23T06:35:38.133Z
Not used today because it sounds the same as 炎(inflammation)
Jason Swift
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-25T02:35:29.473Z
It reads **yán** in older generation in my hometown when I was young, but totally changed to **ái** currently.
xenophōn
<pronunciation>
When/where is cancer [癌] pronunced yán?
# When/where is cancer [癌] pronunced yán?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-23)

[MDBG](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=2&wdqt=%E7%99%8C%0D%0A)'s definition of 癌 says:

> cancer / carcinoma / also pr. [yan2]

[MoE](https://www.moedict.tw/%E7%99%8C) put their main pronunciation of 癌 as:

> yán

Which might make it look like a TW thing but [兩岸](https://www.moedict.tw/~%E7%99%8C)'s entry just reads:

> ái

When and/or where is 癌 pronounced yán?

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Never heard of it.  
> **username_2**: Some HK tv program say yan.  
> **username_3**: Not used today because it sounds the same as 炎(inflammation)  
> **username_4**: It reads **yán** in older generation in my hometown when I was young, but totally changed to **ái** currently.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-05-23. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

From [神農氏](http://www.shen-nong.com/chi/exam/specialties_cancermedicine.html)

> 中國傳統醫學對癌症的描述. 癌，系由古代巖、岩、嵒等字轉化而來。因癌瘤之形如岩石，累累堅硬，高突不平，故取其音義而名。

In Chinese traditional medicine, cancer is described as like rock (岩), so it is pronounced as [yan2].

From [Wiktionary,](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%99%8C)

> In Mandarin, this character used to be pronounced identically as 岩 (yán). Its pronunciation was changed to ái in December 1962 to avoid the homophony between 癌 (“cancer”) and 炎 (yán, “inflammation”) (compare 肺炎 (fèiyán, “pneumonia”) and 肺癌 (fèi'ái, “lung cancer”)). The new pronunciation ái stems from dialectal pronunciations of 岩 (“rock; cliff”) /ŋai/, influenced by 崖 (yá, yái, “cliff”).

[More info in Traditional Chinese](http://www.macaudata.com/macaubook/book244/html/04201.htm)

> 癌，在不同的地方有不同的讀音。在廣州話地區，它的粵音讀如“岩”，取“喦”之讀音；在內地，它的普通話讀如“皚”(ai)，即“埃”的第二聲；在台灣，它的國語讀音即讀如“岩”(yán)。
>
> 為甚麼“癌”字的讀音會有這些差異呢? “癌”字的最早注音，見於《中華大字典》：“癌讀若嵒。”一九一五年版的《辭源》，也注為“讀如喦”。喦，即岩的異體字。粵音據此一直至今都讀如“岩”。國語也曾一度據此讀如“岩”音。一九二一年，由民國政府的“國語統一籌備會”(魯迅也是該會會員)所訂正的《校改國音字典》，依然將“癌”的國音訂為“碞”。“碞”也是“岩”的異體字。直至今日，台灣也是按照這種讀音，沒有改變。
>
> 那麼，內地的普通話為甚麼又要把“癌”字改讀為“皚”音呢? 它又是甚麼時候改讀此音的呢? 原來，內地一直到一九六一年，都是把“癌”讀如“岩”的。當年, 新華字典大修，編者考慮到普通話中的“癌症”和“炎症”讀音完全一樣，容易造成混淆，故參考某些方言的“岩”字讀如“崖”音，於是便推薦“癌”讀“皚”音。一九六二年修訂的直排本《新華字典》，便將“癌”的國音注為ái，並用括號說明“舊讀yán”。一九六五年和一九七三年兩次印行的《現代漢語詞典》試用本，也都把“癌”字的注音改成“ái，(舊讀yán)”。
>
> 當時採用的這種注音方式，有兩個用意：一是表示ái，這個音不是印錯了，而是有意推荐的跟舊讀不同的音；二是表明，如果你不贊同ái的音，也可以讀舊音yán(岩)。
>
> 林語堂主編的台灣一九七二年版《當代漢英詞典》，一方面堅持“癌”的舊讀yán，另一方面則注明有人主張讀ái，用來跟“炎症”的“炎”區別。態度十分客觀。
>
> 到了一九八五年十二月，國家語言文字工作委員會、國家教育委員會、廣播電視部聯合頒佈了《普通話異讀詞審音表》，進一步取消了“癌”字的舊讀yán，統讀為ái。
>
> 至於粵音，由於“癌”與“炎”的讀音不同，不會混淆，所以毋需改讀，仍照舊讀如“岩”。

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: 西南官话 seems to fit the dialectical part as far as I can tell.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-05-23. Score: 1

My dictionary (《现代汉语词典》) says:

> 旧读yan2

Which means it used to be read as yan2 in the past.

I don't know how long ago when the "yan2" reading disappeared, but currently the pronunciation is not used.

I personally never heard of the reading of "yan2" in my entire life. Only found it when I checked the dictionary.


---

