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

Etymology

Origin of ganglion

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

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

In humans, the main effect of light on the internal clock and sleep is probably mediated via the light-sensitive ganglion cells.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 22, 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

Retinal ganglion cells are the gatekeepers for the visual input that reaches the brain.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 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

You might begin at the local beach, which functions as a sort of ganglion.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

The team also tested a more direct method by injecting isolated mitochondria from both humans and mice into the dorsal root ganglia, clusters of nerve cells that send sensory information to the brain.

From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026

The cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia are parts of the brain critical for many cognitive processes, including motor activity and behaviors to gain rewards such as food and water.

From Science Daily ● May 31, 2024

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

“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

Those masses of ganglions below and coming from all sides as they go over the pass of the ridge are association bundles.

From The Brain by Blade, Alexander

Could it be, as many of his nobles held, that the old monarch's hump was his sensorium and source of strength; full of nerves, muscles, ganglions and tendons?

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Melville, Herman

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