Phrase guide

spinal cord

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: /ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue which is a major part of the vertebrate central nervous system. It extends from the brain stem down through the spine, with nerves branching off to various parts of the body.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: medulla spinalis, myelo-, spinal marrow

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a major part of the central nervous system which conducts sensory and motor nerve impulses to and from the brain; a long tubelike structure extending from the base of the brain through the vertebral canal to the upper lumbar region

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: medulla spinalis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: funiculus, neural structure

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: rugmurg — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Southern Altai: јӱлӱн (ǰülün) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Arabic: نُخَاع شَوْكِيّ (nuḵāʕ šawkiyy) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Armenian: ողնուղեղ (oġnuġeġ) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Asturian: migollu espinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Azerbaijani: onurğa beyni — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Belarusian: спінны́ мозг (spinný mozh) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Bengali: সুষুম্নাকাণ্ড (śuśumnakanḍo) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Bulgarian: гръбначен мо́зък (grǎbnačen mózǎk) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Catalan: medul·la espinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Chinese Cantonese: 脊髓 (zek3 seoi5) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Chinese: 龍骨髓 /龙骨髓 (lêng-kut-chhóe, lêng-kut-chhé, liông-kut-chhóe, liông-kut-chhé) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Chinese Mandarin: 脊髓 (jǐsuǐ) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Czech: mícha — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Danish: rygmarv — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Dutch: ruggenmerg — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Esperanto: mjelo — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Estonian: seljaaju — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Faroese: møna — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Finnish: selkäydin — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • French: moelle épinière — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • French: moelle spinale — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Galician: medula espiñal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Georgian: ზურგის ტვინი (zurgis ṭvini) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • German: Rückenmark — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • German: Myelon — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Greek: νωτιαίος μυελός (notiaíos myelós) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Gujarati: કરોડરજ્જુ (karoḍrajju) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Hausa: lakā — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Hebrew: חוט השדרה (khut ha-šidra) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Hindi: मेरुरज्जु (merurajju) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Hungarian: gerincvelő — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Icelandic: mæna — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Ido: myelo — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Indonesian: sumsum tulang belakang — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Irish: corda an dromlaigh — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Italian: midollo spinale — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Japanese: 脊髄 (sekizui) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Kabuverdianu: medula spinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Kabuverdianu: m'dula espinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Kannada: ಬೆನ್ನು ಹುರಿ (bennu huri) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Kazakh: жұлын (jūlyn) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Korean: 척수 (cheoksu) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Northern Kurdish: dirkepetik — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Northern Kurdish: striyebendik — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Kyrgyz: жүлүн (jülün) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Latin: medulla spinalis — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Latvian: muguras smadzenes — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Lithuanian: nugaros smegenys — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Macedonian: ’рбетен мозок (’rbeten mozok) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Malay: saraf tunjang — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Malayalam: സുഷുമ്നാ നാഡി (suṣumnā nāḍi) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Maltese: korda spinali — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Marathi: मज्जारज्जू (majjārajjū) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Navajo: ííghą́ą́tsiighąąʼ — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Navajo: íígháán tsiighąąʼ — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ryggmarg — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ryggmerg — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Pashto: شمزۍ ماغزه — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Persian: طناب نخاعی — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Persian: مغز تیره (maġz-e tire) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Persian: مغز تیرهی پشت (maġz-e tire-ye pošt) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Polish: rdzeń kręgowy — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Portuguese: medula espinhal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Quechua: ñiqwin — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Romanian: măduva spinării — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Russian: спинно́й мозг (spinnój mozg) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Santali: ᱵᱤᱥᱤᱡᱟᱲ (bisijaṛ) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Serbo-Croatian: кичмена мождина — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Serbo-Croatian: kičmena moždina — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Sinhalese: සුෂුම්නාව (suṣumnāwa) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Slovak: miecha — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Slovene: hrbtenjača — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Spanish: médula espinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Swedish: ryggmärg — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Tagalog: kordong espinal — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Tamil: தண்டுவடம் (taṇṭuvaṭam) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Tamil: முதுகுத்தண்டு (mutukuttaṇṭu) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Tamil: முள்ளந்தண்டு வடம் (muḷḷantaṇṭu vaṭam) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Telugu: వెన్నెముక (vennemuka) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Telugu: వెన్నుపాము (vennupāmu) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Thai: ไขสันหลัง (kăi săn-lăng) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Turkish: omurilik — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Ukrainian: спинни́й мо́зок (spynnýj mózok) — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Vietnamese: tuỷ sống — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Volapük: medul — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: llinyn y cefn — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: madruddyn y cefn — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: y llinyn arian — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: llinyn y gwegil — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: mwydyn y cefn — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: llinyn gwar — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Welsh: llinyn y gwar — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue
  • Xhosa: umnqonqo — thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue