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Cancer (astrology)

fourth astrological sign in the zodiac

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ161701
Source-derived summary

Cancer (♋︎; Ancient Greek: Καρκίνος, romanized: Karkínos, lit. 'crab', Latin for the "Crab") is the fourth astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Cancer. It spans from 90° to 120° celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area between approximately June 22 and July 23.

In astrology, Cancer is the cardinal sign of the Water trigon, which is made up of Cancer, Pisces, and Scorpio. It is one of the six negative signs, and its ruling planet is the Moon. Though some depictions of Cancer feature a lobster, crayfish, scarab beetle or a turtle, the sign is most often represented by the crab, based on the Karkinos. In Swedish the sign is named "kräftan" which means "crayfish". In Dutch and Afrikaans the sign is called "kreeft" and "kreef" respectively which translates to "lobster". Cancer's opposite sign is Capricorn.

Background

Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters at the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere Those who are born from approximately June 21 to July 22 (depending upon the year) are born under Cancer.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Cancer (astrology)” as fourth astrological sign in the zodiac. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cancer, astrology and fourth.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 184-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Cancer, astrology and fourth providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Cancer (astrology)”, the useful work is to connect “fourth astrological sign in the zodiac” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q161701. The Library of Congress control number is sh89003099. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Cancer (astrology)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.