Pacinian corpuscle

[puh-sin-ee-uhn]

noun

1. (sometimes lowercase),  a microscopic, onionlike body consisting of layers of connective tissue wrapped around a nerve ending, located in the deep layers of skin, tendons, etc., and functioning as a sensory receptor of pressure and vibration.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pacinian corpuscle¹

1875–80; after Filippo Pacini (1812–83), Italian anatomist; -ian

Example Sentences

One of these receptors, the Pacinian corpuscle, responds to pressure and vibration.

Read more on The Guardian

Pacinian corpuscle Located deep in the dermis of both types of skin, Pacinian corpuscles respond to high-frequency vibration.

Read more on Nature

In fact, as the neuroscientist David Linden explained to me, it involves a predictable misread by something called a Pacinian corpuscle.

Read more on The New Yorker

The largest of the simple forms of sense organs are bodies visible to the naked eye and called, from their discoverer Pacini, the Pacinian corpuscles.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Again, many of the nerve fibers terminate in corpuscles, the largest about 1/20 of an inch long, called Pacinian corpuscles.

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