Phrase guide

cerebral cortex

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹəl ˈkɔːtɛks/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /səˈɹiː.bɹəl ˈkɔːtɛks/
  • General-American: /səˈɹiː.bɹəl ˈkɔɹtɛks/
  • General-American: /ˈsɛɹ.əb.ɹəl ˈkɔɹtɛks/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The grey, folded, outermost layer of the cerebrum that is responsible for higher brain processes such as sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory.

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

the layer of unmyelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cerebral mantle, pallium, cortex

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: neural structure

Narrower terms: neopallium, neocortex, archipallium, paleocortex

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قشرة مخية — layer of the brain
  • Armenian: գլխուղեղի կեղեւ (glxuġeġi keġew) — layer of the brain
  • Asturian: corteya cerebral — layer of the brain
  • Basque: kortex zerebral — layer of the brain
  • Belarusian: кара вялікіх паўшар’яў (kara vjalikix pawšarʺjaw) — layer of the brain
  • Bulgarian: мозъчна кора (mozǎčna kora) — layer of the brain
  • Catalan: escorça cerebral — layer of the brain
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大腦皮質 /大脑皮质 (dànǎo pízhì) — layer of the brain
  • Czech: mozková kůra — layer of the brain
  • Danish: hjernebark — layer of the brain
  • Dutch: hersenschors — layer of the brain
  • Esperanto: kortekso — layer of the brain
  • Estonian: suurajukoor — layer of the brain
  • Finnish: aivokuori — layer of the brain
  • French: cortex cérébral — layer of the brain
  • German: Großhirnrinde — layer of the brain
  • Greek: εγκεφαλικός φλοιός (egkefalikós floiós) — layer of the brain
  • Hebrew: קליפת המוח — layer of the brain
  • Hungarian: agykéreg — layer of the brain
  • Hungarian: nagyagykéreg — layer of the brain
  • Icelandic: heilabörkur — layer of the brain
  • Irish: coirtéis cheirbreach — layer of the brain
  • Italian: corteccia cerebrale — layer of the brain
  • Japanese: 大脳皮質 (dainōhishitsu) — layer of the brain
  • Kazakh: ми қыртысы (mi qyrtysy) — layer of the brain
  • Korean: 대뇌 피질 (daenoe pijil) — layer of the brain
  • Northern Kurdish: tûkila mejiyê — layer of the brain
  • Latin: cortex cerebri — layer of the brain
  • Lithuanian: galvos smegenų žievė — layer of the brain
  • Malay: korteks sereberum — layer of the brain
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hjernebark — layer of the brain
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hjernebork — layer of the brain
  • Polish: kora mózgowa — layer of the brain
  • Polish: kora mózgu — layer of the brain
  • Portuguese: córtex — layer of the brain
  • Romanian: cortex cerebral — layer of the brain
  • Russian: кора́ головно́го мо́зга (korá golovnóvo mózga) — layer of the brain
  • Slovak: mozgová kôra — layer of the brain
  • Slovene: možganska skorja — layer of the brain
  • Spanish: corteza cerebral — layer of the brain
  • Spanish: córtex cerebral — layer of the brain
  • Swahili: gamba la ubongo — layer of the brain
  • Swedish: hjärnbark — layer of the brain
  • Thai: เปลือกสมอง (bplʉ̀ʉak-sà-mɔ̌ɔng) — layer of the brain
  • Turkish: serebral korteks — layer of the brain
  • Ukrainian: кора головного мозку (kora holovnoho mozku) — layer of the brain
  • Vietnamese: vỏ đại não — layer of the brain