Phrase guide

blood-brain barrier

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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A structure in the central nervous system (CNS) that keeps various substances found in the bloodstream out of the brain while allowing in the substances essential to metabolic function, e.g. oxygen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a mechanism that creates a barrier between brain tissues and circulating blood; serves to protect the central nervous system

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the brain was protected from the large molecules of the virus by the blood-brain barrier

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: barrier

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 血腦屏障 /血脑屏障 (xuè-nǎo píngzhàng) — structure in the central nervous system
  • Czech: hematoencefalická bariéra — structure in the central nervous system
  • Finnish: veri-aivoeste — structure in the central nervous system
  • French: barrière hémato-encéphalique — structure in the central nervous system
  • German: Blut-Hirn-Schranke — structure in the central nervous system
  • Greek: αιματοεγκεφαλικός φραγμός (aimatoegkefalikós fragmós) — structure in the central nervous system
  • Hungarian: vér-agy gát — structure in the central nervous system
  • Indonesian: sawar darah otak — structure in the central nervous system
  • Japanese: 血液脳関門 (ketsuekinōkanmon) — structure in the central nervous system
  • Polish: bariera krew-mózg — structure in the central nervous system
  • Portuguese: barreira hematoencefálica — structure in the central nervous system
  • Russian: гематоэнцефали́ческий барье́р (gematoencefalíčeskij barʹjér) — structure in the central nervous system
  • Spanish: barrera hematoencefálica — structure in the central nervous system
  • Thai: ตัวกั้นระหว่างเลือดกับสมอง (dtuua-gân-rá-wàang-lʉ̂ʉat-gàp-sà-mɔ̌ɔng) — structure in the central nervous system
  • Ukrainian: гематоенцефалі́чний бар'є́р (hematoencefalíčnyj barʺjér) — structure in the central nervous system