bösartigen

Bösartig is a German adjective meaning malignant or evil in a moral sense. In medicine it is used to describe diseases or growths that are cancerous or aggressively invasive, distinguishing them from non-medical uses of the word that describe behavior or intent.

In pathology, a bösartige tumor (malignant neoplasm) tends to invade surrounding tissue and can metastasize to distant organs through the bloodstream or lymphatic system. This invasive growth pattern is what sets malignant tumors apart from gutartige tumors (benign), which typically grow slowly, remain localized, and do not metastasize. Maligne neoplasms can arise in many tissues, including carcinomas (originating in epithelial tissue), sarcomas (connective tissue), and hematologic cancers such as lymphomas.

In clinical language, synonyms such as maligne or malign are used, and cancer is commonly referred to as Krebs in everyday German. The term bösartig is widely used in medical texts, patient information, and research to convey the serious, invasive nature of these diseases. Beyond medicine, bösartig can describe malicious or harmful behavior, but in medical contexts it specifically denotes malignant pathology.

Etymologically, bösartig comes from böse (evil) combined with artig (characteristic), conveying a sense of harmful aggressiveness. The term remains standard in German medical literature and is used alongside maligne to denote malignant disease, including malignant tumors and other aggressive pathological processes.