ganglion

American  

[gang-glee-uhn] / ˈgæŋ gli ən /

noun

• ganglia,
  plural
• ganglions
  plural

1. Anatomy.

   1. a mass of nerve tissue existing outside the central nervous system.

   2. any of certain masses of gray matter in the brain, as the basal ganglia.

2. Pathology. a cyst or enlargement in connection with the sheath of a tendon, usually at the wrist.

3. a center of intellectual or industrial force, activity, etc.

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ganglion British  

/ ˈɡæŋɡlɪən /

noun

1. an encapsulated collection of nerve-cell bodies, usually located outside the brain and spinal cord

2. any concentration of energy, activity, or strength

3. a cystic tumour on a tendon sheath or joint capsule

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ganglion Scientific  

/ găng′glē-ən /

• ganglia
  plural

1. A compact group of neurons enclosed by connective tissue and having a specific function. In invertebrate animals, pairs of ganglia occur at intervals along the axis of the body, with the forwardmost pair functioning like a brain. In vertebrates, ganglia are usually located outside the brain or spinal cord, where they regulate the functioning of the body's organs and glands as part of the autonomic nervous system.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ganglial
  adjective
• gangliar
  adjective
• ganglionic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ganglia
  plural
• ganglions
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ganglion

1675–85; < Late Latin: a type of swelling < Greek gánglion a tumor under the skin, on or near a tendon

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Explanation

In medicine, a ganglion is a cluster of nerve cells. Although it's not related to nerve cells, a harmless but visible lump on the skin is known as a ganglion cyst. It's not uncommon for people to get benign but annoying ganglion cysts on their hands as they age. This use of ganglion goes back to the Greek root meaning "knot, swelling under the skin, or tumor." Ganglion came to mean "nerve cells" in medical terminology by the 17th century (although the cyst meaning also stuck around). Humans have many ganglia in their bodies, including the clusters around our spinal nerves and the basal ganglia in our brains.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ganglion ganglia ganglions

However, the stimulation of the light-sensitive ganglion cells was the same in all three conditions.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 22, 2023

In contrast, they found 21 orthotypes of retinal ganglion cells, which exhibit greater variation among species.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 13, 2023

Yet, while mice are a favorite model animal for studying glaucoma, they have very few of the midget retinal ganglion cell counterparts.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 13, 2023

It found people with Parkinson's had a thinner ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer and inner nuclear layer in the eye.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2023

He is more like a ganglion on legs.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

"For decades, Parkinson's has been primarily associated with motor deficits and the basal ganglia," the part of the brain that controls muscle movements, Liu said.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026

The basal ganglia receives signals from the motor cortex as skaters leap and twirl in the air.

From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2024

The scientists found that abnormalities occurred specifically in the anterior neostriatum within the basal ganglia, a structure found deep in the brain.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2024

Ullman says the findings underscore the potential utility of drugs that are known to improve movement impairments due to basal ganglia dysfunction, such as those that act on dopamine receptors.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2024

“The reflex-arc response taking place in the upper ganglia of the spinal column requires several microseconds more in the humanoid robot than in a human nervous system.”

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

They have a brain that’s wrapped around their esophagus, ganglions on every one of their little suckers.

From Slate ● May 31, 2017

Peter and Paul are so busy representing alternate responses to stimuli that they seem ganglions rather than real folks.

From Time Magazine Archive

Simple and sensible though these reforms seemed to outsiders, they cut deep into Yale's vital fabric of traditions, left a mass of supersensitive and unsutured ganglions.

From Time Magazine Archive

His ganglions were big, as was the case in all great preachers.

From Mystic London: or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis by Charles Maurice Davies

I tell you, Comrade Jackson, for the moment it reduced my delicately vibrating ganglions to a mere frazzle.

From Psmith in the City by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

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