can|cri|zans

can|cri|zans «KANG kruh zuhnz», adjective.

1. going or moving backward, like a crab.

2. Music. designating a canon in which the theme or subject is repeated backward instead of forward.

╂[< Medieval Latin cancrizans, -antis, present participle of cancrizare go backward like a crab < Latin cancrī, plural of cancer crab; tumor]