neuron

especially British, neu·rone
especially British,

[noor-on, nyoor-]

noun

1. Cell Biology.,  a specialized, impulse-conducting cell that is the functional unit of the nervous system, consisting of the cell body and its processes, the axon and dendrites.

neuron

1. A cell of the nervous system. Neurons typically consist of a cell body, which contains a nucleus and receives incoming nerve impulses, and an axon, which carries impulses away from the cell body.

2. Also called nerve cell

Other Word Forms

• neuronal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of neuron¹

First recorded in 1880–85, neuron is from the Greek word neûron sinew, cord, nerve

Example Sentences

"When you start to say, 'I'm going to use a neuron like a little machine', it's a different view of our own brain and it makes you question what we are."

From BBC

This mutation turns a normal protein needed in the brain – called the huntingtin protein – into a killer of neurons.

From BBC

In FTD, abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain’s frontal or temporal lobes, damaging and eventually destroying those neurons.

From Los Angeles Times

The show’s point is that you or I can and should pick up a hobby or enroll in a class to spark those neurons out of complacency.

From Salon

What is remembered and honored is his response to the ultimate “failure”: a failure of upper and lower motor neurons to make necessary connections that ultimately leads to rapidly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy.

From Los Angeles Times