Standard Lemma guide

thalamus

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.

  • /ˈθæləməs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: TH AE1 L AH0 M AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Either of two large, ovoid structures of grey matter within the forebrain that relay sensory impulses to the cerebral cortex.

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 receptacle of a flower; a torus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A thallus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An inner room or nuptial chamber.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

large egg-shaped structures of grey matter that form the dorsal subdivision of the diencephalon

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

History

Etymology

From Latin thalamus, from Ancient Greek θάλαμος (thálamos, “an inner chamber, a bedroom, a bed”).

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِهَاد (mihād) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Bengali: থ্যালামাস (thêlamaś) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Catalan: tàlem — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Chinese Cantonese: 丘腦 /丘脑 (jau1 nou5) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Chinese Mandarin: 丘腦 /丘脑 (qiūnǎo) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Corsican: talamu — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Czech: thalamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Czech: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Czech: hrbolí — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Dutch: thalamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Esperanto: talamo — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Finnish: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • French: thalamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Friulian: talam — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • German: Thalamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Greek: θάλαμος (thálamos) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Hungarian: talamusz — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Hungarian: látótelep — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Irish: talamas — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Italian: talamo — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Japanese: 視床 (shishō) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Kazakh: көру төмпегі (köru tömpegı) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Korean: 시상 (sisang) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Malay: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Occitan: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Persian: تالاموس (tâlâmus) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Polish: wzgórze — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Portuguese: tálamo — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Russian: тала́мус (talámus) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Spanish: tálamo — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Swedish: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Turkish: talamus — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Turkish: duyu odası — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Ukrainian: тала́мус (talámus) — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Vietnamese: đồi não — anatomy: structure within forebrain
  • Vietnamese: đồi thị — anatomy: structure within forebrain