A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Cacoethes,-is (s.n.III) = Gk. kakoEthes (neuter noun; note, not eta) (a bad state or habit): (in medic. lang.) a bad quality in a disease; an obstinate, malignant disease; pl. (in Latin) cacoethe = kakoEthE (ta); an incurable passion [i.e. mania] for writing or scribbling” (Lewis & Short); (in Pliny) “a Greek adjective applied to sores that are very difficult or impossible to cure; “malignant” is the nearest, but not quite exact, equivalent” (Jones); see cancer, gen. sg. cancri; see carcinoma,-atis (s.n.III); see ulcus, gen.sg. ulceris (s.n.III);

      singular     plural    As a Latin noun:


Nom.  cacoethes   cacoetha
Gen.  cacoethis   cacoethum
Dat.  cacoethi    cacoethibus
Acc.  cacoethes   cacoetha
Abl.  cacoethe    cacoethibus

NOTE: as a neuter noun, the nom. = acc. in both singular and plural.

NOTE: “nom. plural = cacoethe = Gk. kakoEthE, ta (in Pliny)” (after Lewis & Short).

NOTE: (as an adjective) ulcera cacoethe, malignant sores. Cacoethes is the neuter form of Gk. m/f kakoEthEs, ‘ill-disposed or ill-natured.’

NOTE: in Greek cf. the noun kakoEtheia (s.f.I) ‘bad disposition, malignity; bad manners or habits; (medic.) malignant character (of disease, nosos); in plural: malignant diseases or growths (Liddell & Scott).