Standard Lemma guide

amygdala

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AE2 M IH0 G D AA1 L AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, neuroanatomy, neurology, neuroscience, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an almond-shaped neural structure in the anterior part of the temporal lobe of the cerebrum; intimately connected with the hypothalamus and the hippocampus and the cingulate gyrus; as part of the limbic system it plays an important role in motivation and emotional behavior

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amygdaloid nucleus, corpus amygdaloideum

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: basal ganglion

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē)bor. ▲ Arabic لَوْز (lawz)sl. Medieval Latin amygdalalbor. English amygdala Learned borrowing from Latin amygdala (“almond, amygdala”), from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”), named as such due to its shape. Doublet of almond, amygdale, and mandorla.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: amígdala — brain region
  • Chinese Mandarin: 杏仁體 /杏仁体 (xìngréntǐ) — brain region
  • Czech: amygdala — brain region
  • Danish: amygdala — brain region
  • Danish: mandelkerne — brain region
  • Esperanto: amigdalo — brain region
  • Finnish: mantelitumake — brain region
  • French: amygdale cérébrale — brain region
  • Galician: amígdala — brain region
  • Georgian: ამიგდალა (amigdala) — brain region
  • German: Amygdala — brain region
  • Hungarian: amigdala — brain region
  • Icelandic: möndlungur — brain region
  • Japanese: 扁桃体 (hentōtai) — brain region
  • Japanese: 扁桃核 (hentōkaku) — brain region
  • Persian: بادامک (bādāmak) — brain region
  • Polish: ciało migdałowate — brain region
  • Portuguese: amígdala — brain region
  • Romanian: amigdală — brain region
  • Russian: мозжечко́вая минда́лина (mozžečkóvaja mindálina) — brain region
  • Russian: миндалеви́дное те́ло (mindalevídnoje télo) — brain region
  • Spanish: amígdala — brain region
  • Swedish: mandelkärna — brain region
  • Swedish: amygdala — brain region
  • Turkish: amigdala — brain region
Real reading context

amygdala in complete knowledge articles