Phrase guide

white matter

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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A region of the central nervous system containing myelinated nerve fibres and no dendrites.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

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

whitish nervous tissue of the CNS consisting of neurons and their myelin sheaths

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: substantia alba

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nervous tissue, nerve tissue

Narrower terms: nerve pathway, tract, nerve tract, pathway

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: substància blanca — region of the central nervous system
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白質 /白质 (báizhì) — region of the central nervous system
  • Danish: hvid substans — region of the central nervous system
  • Dutch: witte stof — region of the central nervous system
  • Finnish: valkea aine — region of the central nervous system
  • German: weiße Substanz — region of the central nervous system
  • Hungarian: fehérállomány — region of the central nervous system
  • Japanese: 白質 (hakushitsu) — region of the central nervous system
  • Korean: 백질 (baekjil) — region of the central nervous system
  • Northern Kurdish: madeyê spî — region of the central nervous system
  • Macedonian: бела маса (bela masa) — region of the central nervous system
  • Malay: jirim putih — region of the central nervous system
  • Polish: istota biała — region of the central nervous system
  • Polish: substancja biała — region of the central nervous system
  • Romanian: substanță albă — region of the central nervous system
  • Russian: бе́лое вещество́ (béloje veščestvó) — region of the central nervous system
  • Spanish: sustancia blanca — region of the central nervous system
  • Spanish: materia blanca — region of the central nervous system