ganglion

See also: Ganglion

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek γᾰγγλῐ́ον (gănglĭ́on, “encysted tumour on a tendon or aponeurosis”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋɡliən

Noun

ganglion (plural ganglia or ganglions)

1. (neuroanatomy)
   1. An encapsulated collection of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fiber.

      Hyponyms: autonomic ganglion, cervical ganglion, dorsal root ganglion, Gasserian ganglion, geniculate ganglion, Meckel's ganglion, spinal ganglion

      • 1871, Charles Darwin, “On the Manner of Development of Man from some Lower Form”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Part I (On the Descent of Man), page 145:

        [T]he wonderfully diversified instincts, mental powers, and affections of ants are generally known, yet their cerebral ganglia are not so large as the quarter of a small pin's head.

   2. Any of certain masses of gray matter in the central nervous system, as the basal ganglia.

      Synonym: nucleus

      • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

        The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.

2. (transferred sense) A centre of intellectual or industrial force, activity, etc.
3. (pathology) A benign cystic tumour on a tendon sheath or joint capsule.

   Synonym: ganglion cyst

Derived terms

• ciliary ganglion
• deganglionated
• gangliac
• ganglial
• gangliform
• ganglio-, gangli-
• ganglionary
• ganglion cyst
• ganglionectomy
• ganglionic
• ganglionitis
• ganglionless
• ganglionopathy
• ganglionosis
• gasserian ganglion
• hemiganglion
• inferior cervical ganglion
• inferior ganglion
• interganglion
• intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell
• lumbar ganglion
• melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cell
• middle cervical ganglion
• neuroganglion
• otic ganglion
• paraganglion
• petrosal ganglion
• photosensitive retinal ganglion cell
• phrenic ganglion
• pseudoganglion
• pterygopalatine ganglion
• semilunar ganglion
• spiral ganglion
• stellate ganglion
• submandibular ganglion
• superior cervical ganglion
• synganglion
• thoracic ganglion
• trigeminal ganglion
• vestibular ganglion

Translations

collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain

• Arabic: عُقْدَة عَصَبِيَّة f (ʕuqda ʕaṣabiyya)
• Catalan: gangli m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神經節 / 神经节 (zh) (shénjīngjié)

• Czech: ganglion n, ganglie f, nervová uzlina f
• Dutch: zenuwknoop (nl) m, ganglion (nl) m
• Esperanto: ganglio (eo)
• Finnish: ganglio (fi), hermosolmu (fi)
• French: ganglion (fr) m
• Galician: ganglio m
• Georgian: ნერვული კვანძი (nervuli ḳvanʒi)
• German: Ganglion (de) n, Nervenknoten m
• Ido: gangliono (io)
• Indonesian: ganglion (id)
• Japanese: 神経節 (しんけいせつ, shinkeisetsu)
• Kazakh: жүйке түйіні (jüike tüiını)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: girêk (ku) f

• Latin: ganglion n
• Persian: گانگلیون (gângeliyon)
• Polish: zwój nerwowy m
• Romanian: ganglion (ro) m
• Russian: га́нглий (ru) m (gánglij)
• Spanish: ganglio (es) m
• Turkish: gangliyon (tr)

centre of power or authority

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中心 (zh) (zhōngxīn)

• Finnish: hermokeskus
• German: Kopf (de) m
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

ganglion cyst — see ganglion cyst

References

• “ganglion”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “ganglion”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Czech

Alternative forms

• ganglie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡaŋɡlɪjon]

Noun

ganglion n

1. ganglion

   Synonym: nervová uzlina

2. ganglion cyst

Declension

Declension of ganglion (semisoft neuter foreign)

	singular	plural
nominative	ganglion	ganglia
genitive	ganglia	ganglií
dative	gangliu	gangliím
accusative	ganglion	ganglia
vocative	ganglion	ganglia
locative	gangliu	gangliích
instrumental	gangliem	ganglii

Further reading

• “ganglion”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ganglion”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “ganglion”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Finnish

Noun

ganglion

1. genitive singular of ganglio

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɑ̃.ɡli.jɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ganglion m (plural ganglions)

1. ganglion

Derived terms

• ganglion lymphatique

Descendants

• → Romanian: ganglion
• → Turkish: gangliyon

Further reading

• “ganglion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Noun

ganglion (plural gangliones)

1. ganglion

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek γᾰγγλῐ́ον (gănglĭ́on).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈɡan.ɡli.on/, [ˈɡäŋɡlʲiɔn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡan.ɡli.on/, [ˈɡäŋɡlion]

Noun

ganglion n (genitive gangliī); second declension (New Latin)

1. (anatomy) ganglion

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).

	singular	plural
nominative	ganglion	ganglia
genitive	gangliī	gangliōrum
dative	gangliō	gangliīs
accusative	ganglion	ganglia
ablative	gangliō	gangliīs
vocative	ganglion	ganglia

References

• “ganglion”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ganglion in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ganglion.

Noun

ganglion m (plural ganglioni)

1. ganglion

Declension

Declension of ganglion

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ganglion	ganglionul		ganglioni	ganglionii
genitive-dative	ganglion	ganglionului		ganglioni	ganglionilor
vocative	ganglionule			ganglionilor