Phrase guide

cranial nerve

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.

  • General-American: /ˈkɹeɪn.i.əl nɝv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of the twelve paired nerves that originate from the brainstem or base of the brain instead of the spinal cord.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: CN

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of the 12 paired nerves that originate in the brain stem

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nerve, nervus

Narrower terms: olfactory nerve, nervii olfactorii, first cranial nerve, optic nerve, nervus opticus, second cranial nerve, optic tract, oculomotor, oculomotor nerve, nervus oculomotorius, third cranial nerve, trochlear, trochlear nerve, trochlearis, fourth cranial nerve, trigeminal, trigeminal nerve, trigeminus, nervus trigeminus, fifth cranial nerve, abducent, abducent nerve, abducens, abducens nerve, nervus abducens, sixth cranial nerve, facial, facial nerve, nervus facialis, seventh cranial nerve, acoustic nerve, auditory nerve, vestibulocochlear nerve, nervus vestibulocochlearis, eighth cranial nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve, nervus glossopharyngeus, ninth cranial nerve, vagus, vagus nerve, nervus vagus, pneumogastric, pneumogastric nerve, tenth cranial nerve, wandering nerve, accessory nerve, spinal accessory, nervus accessorius, eleventh cranial nerve, hypoglossal, hypoglossal nerve, nervus hypoglosus, twelfth cranial nerve

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 腦神經 /脑神经 (nǎoshénjīng) — nerve
  • Czech: hlavový nerv — nerve
  • Czech: mozkový nerv — nerve
  • Finnish: aivohermo — nerve
  • French: nerf crânien — nerve
  • German: Hirnnerv — nerve
  • Hungarian: agyideg — nerve
  • Italian: nervo cranico — nerve
  • Italian: nervo encefalico — nerve
  • Japanese: 脳神経 (nōshinkei) — nerve
  • Kazakh: ми жүйкесі (mi jüikesı) — nerve
  • Northern Kurdish: demaxêdemar — nerve
  • Latin: nervus cranialis — nerve
  • Polish: nerw czaszkowy — nerve
  • Portuguese: nervo craniano — nerve
  • Portuguese: nervo cranial — nerve
  • Russian: че́репно-мозгово́й нерв (čérepno-mozgovój nerv) — nerve
  • Russian: черепно́й нерв (čerepnój nerv) — nerve
  • Slovak: hlavový nerv — nerve
  • Spanish: nervio craneal — nerve
  • Spanish: par craneal — nerve
  • Swedish: kranialnerv — nerve
  • Tagalog: bunguing dagandam — nerve
  • Telugu: కపాలనాడి (kapālanāḍi) — nerve