Skip to content
Medicine & BodyGreekEnglish

Neuron

A cell that transmits nerve impulses.

The Greek roots

νεῦρον
neûron
sinew, nerve

Literally: a nerve fibre

Follow a root:νεῦρον7 words

The story of the word

Originally 'sinew', neûron shifted to mean nerve, and now names the brain's signalling cells.

The same roots elsewhere

Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.

In a sentence

Each neuron connects to thousands of others.

Built on the same root

More from Medicine & Body