Standard Lemma guide

ganglion

noun · 5 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.

  • /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli.ən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æŋɡliən
  • CMU ARPABET: G AE1 NG G L IY0 AA0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An encapsulated collection of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fiber.

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

Any of certain masses of gray matter in the central nervous system, as the basal ganglia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nucleus

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A centre of intellectual or industrial force, activity, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: transferred sense

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A benign cystic tumour on a tendon sheath or joint capsule.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ganglion cyst

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an encapsulated neural structure consisting of a collection of cell bodies or neurons

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: neural structure

Narrower terms: autonomic ganglion, basal ganglion

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek γᾰγγλῐ́ον (gănglĭ́on, “encysted tumour on a tendon or aponeurosis”).

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عُقْدَة عَصَبِيَّة (ʕuqda ʕaṣabiyya) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Catalan: gangli — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Chinese Mandarin: 神經節 /神经节 (shénjīngjié) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Czech: zauzlina — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Czech: nervová uzlina — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Czech: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Czech: ganglie — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Dutch: zenuwknoop — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Dutch: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Esperanto: ganglio — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Finnish: ganglio — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Finnish: hermosolmu — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • French: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Galician: ganglio — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Georgian: ნერვული კვანძი (nervuli ḳvanʒi) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • German: Ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • German: Nervenknoten — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Ido: gangliono — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Indonesian: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Japanese: 神経節 (shinkeisetsu) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Kazakh: жүйке түйіні (jüike tüiını) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Northern Kurdish: girêk — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Latin: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Persian: گانگلیون (gângeliyon) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Polish: zwój nerwowy — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Romanian: ganglion — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Russian: га́нглий (gánglij) — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Spanish: ganglio — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Turkish: gangliyon — collection of nerve cell bodies outside the brain
  • Chinese Mandarin: 中心 (zhōngxīn) — centre of power or authority
  • Finnish: hermokeskus — centre of power or authority
  • German: Kopf — centre of power or authority