cerebrum

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English cerebrum, from Latin cerebrum (“a brain; a skull”); see there for more.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹəm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈɹi.bɹəm/, /ˈsɛɹ.əb.ɹəm/
• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪbɹəm, -iːbɹəm

Noun

cerebrum (plural cerebra or cerebrums)

1. (neuroanatomy) The principal and most anterior part of the brain in vertebrates, which is located in the front area of the skull and divided into two hemispheres, left and right, separated by a fissure. In humans it is the largest part of the brain and is responsible for the integration of complex sensory functions and the initiation and coordination of voluntary activity, and the higher mental functions such as consciousness, thought, reason, emotion, and memory.

   Synonym: telencephalon

   Hyponyms: cerebral hemisphere, cerebral cortex

   Holonym: forebrain

Derived terms

• cerebral
• cerebro-, cerebr-
• cerebroid
• deutocerebrum
• hemicerebrum
• mesocerebrum
• procerebrum
• protocerebrum
• tritocerebrum

 

Related terms

• cerebellum

Translations

principal part of the brain

• Armenian: գլխուղեղ (hy) (glxuġeġ)
• Bulgarian: главен мозък (glaven mozǎk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大腦／大脑 (zh) (dànǎo)

• Czech: koncový mozek m
• Danish: storhjerne (da)
• Dutch: telencephalon
• Esperanto: grandcerbo
• Finnish: isot aivot pl, isotaivot
• French: telencéphale m
• German: Großhirn (de) n
• Greek: εγκέφαλος (el) m (egkéfalos)
• Hindi: प्रमस्तिष्क (pramastiṣk)
• Hungarian: nagyagy (hu)
• Icelandic: hjarni m
• Ingrian: suur aivo
• Irish: ceirbream m
• Japanese: 大脳 (ja) (だいのう, dainō)
• Kalmyk: тарг (targ)
• Kazakh: соңғы ми (soñğy mi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mejî (ku) m

• Latin: cerebrum n, telencephalon n
• Malay: serebrum
• Maori: roronui, roro hiringa
• Mongolian: их тархи (ix tarxi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: storhjerne m

• Portuguese: telencéfalo (pt) m
• Russian: головно́й мозг (ru) m (golovnój mozg)
• Spanish: telencéfalo m
• Swedish: storhjärna (sv) c
• Tagalog: malaking-utak, utak-pang-isip
• Telugu: పెద్దమెదడు (peddamedaḍu), బృహన్మస్తిష్కము (te) (br̥hanmastiṣkamu)
• Vietnamese: đại não (大腦)

References

• “cerebrum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cerebrum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• cumberer

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kerazrom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂srom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-. Compare Ancient Greek κᾰ́ρᾱ (kárā, “a head, face”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈke.re.brum/, [ˈkɛrɛbrʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe.re.brum/, [ˈt͡ʃɛːrebrum]

Noun

cerebrum n (genitive cerebrī); second declension

1. a brain
   • ca. 60 BCE, Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura , Book 6, Lines 802-3:

     carbonumque gravis vis atque odor insinuatur / quam facile in cerebrum, nisi aqua praecepimus ante!

     And how the heavy fumes of charcoal wind their way / Readily into the brain, unless beforehand of water we've drunk!

   1. (metonymically) understanding; anger, choler
2. (anatomy) a skull
3. (botany) an upper pith

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cerebrum	cerebra
Genitive	cerebrī	cerebrōrum
Dative	cerebrō	cerebrīs
Accusative	cerebrum	cerebra
Ablative	cerebrō	cerebrīs
Vocative	cerebrum	cerebra

Derived terms

• cerebellum (diminutive)
• cerebrālis (adjective)
• cerebrōsus (adjective)
• excerebrō (verb)

Descendants

Descendants of cerebrum in other languages

• Aromanian: crier
• → Asturian: cerebru
• → Middle English: cerebrum, cerebre, cerrebre, serabrum
  • English: cerebrum
• Esperanto: cerbo
• ⇒ French: cérébral
  • → English: cerebral
• → Galician: cerebro
• → Ido: cerebro
• → Interlingua: cerebro
• → Italian: cerebro
• → Portuguese: cérebro
• Romanian: creier
• → Spanish: cerebro
• → Turkish: serebrum

References

• “cerebrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cerebrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cerebrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cerebrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “cerebrum”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cerebre, cerrebre, serabrum

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cerebrum, from Proto-Italic *kerazrom.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrəbrum/, /ˈsɛrəbrə/, /ˈsɛrəbər/

Noun

cerebrum

1. (medicine) brain

Descendants

• English: cerebrum

References

• “cerēbre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “cerēbrum, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.