cerebral

See also: cérébral

English

WOTD – 15 November 2009

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹəl/, /ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹl̩/, /səˈɹiː.bɹəl/, /səˈɹiː.bɹl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈɹi.bɹəl/, /ˈsɛɹ.əb.ɹəl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪbɹəl, -iːbɹəl

Etymology 1

Borrowing from French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum (“a brain”); equivalent to cerebrum +‎ -al.

Adjective

cerebral (comparative more cerebral, superlative most cerebral)

1. (anatomy, relational) Of, or relating to the brain, cerebrum, or cerebral cortex.
2. Intellectual rather than emotional or physical.

   Coordinate term: visceral

Derived terms

• acerebral
• antennocerebral
• anticerebral
• cardiocerebral
• cardiovasculocerebral
• cerebral aqueduct
• cerebral artery
• cerebral blood flow
• cerebral cortex
• cerebral edema
• cerebral hemisphere
• cerebral hemorrhage
• cerebralism
• cerebralist
• cerebralize
• cerebral localisation
• cerebral localization
• cerebrally
• cerebral oximetry
• cerebral palsy
• cervicocerebral
• circumcerebral
• craniocerebral
• electrocerebral
• extracerebral
• great cerebral vein
• hemicerebral
• hepatocerebral
• hypercerebral
• hypocerebral
• intercerebral
• intracerebral
• meningocerebral
• metacerebral
• microcerebral
• multiple cerebral sclerosis
• myocerebral
• neurocerebral
• noncerebral
• oculocerebral
• orbitocerebral
• overcerebral
• paracerebral
• pericerebral
• postcerebral
• precerebral
• retinocerebral
• retrocerebral
• rhinocerebral
• spinocerebral
• subcerebral
• supercerebral
• uncerebral

 

Translations

of, or relating to the brain

• Arabic: مُخِّيّ (muḵḵiyy)
• Armenian: ուղեղային (hy) (uġeġayin)
• Asturian: cerebral (ast)
• Belarusian: мазгавы́ (mazhavý), цэрэбра́льны (cerebrálʹny)
• Bulgarian: церебра́лен (bg) (cerebrálen)
• Catalan: cerebral (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大腦的／大脑的 (zh) (dànǎo de)

• Czech: cerebrální (cs), mozkový (cs)
• Danish: cerebral (da)
• Dutch: cerebraal (nl)
• Esperanto: cerba
• Finnish: aivoperäinen, serebraalinen, aivo- (fi)
• French: cérébral (fr)
• Galician: cerebral (gl)
• Georgian: ცერებრალური (cerebraluri)
• German: zerebral (de), cerebral, zerebral- (de), Gehirn- (de), Hirn- (de), Cerebro-
• Ido: cerebrala (io)
• Irish: ceirbreach
• Italian: cerebrale (it)
• Latin: cerebrālis
• Norwegian: cerebral
• Polish: mózgowy (pl)
• Portuguese: cerebral (pt)
• Romanian: cerebral (ro)
• Russian: мозгово́й (ru) (mozgovój), церебра́льный (ru) (cerebrálʹnyj)
• Slovak: cerebrálny (sk), mozgový (sk)
• Slovene: možganski
• Spanish: cerebral (es)
• Swedish: cerebral (sv)
• Turkish: beyinsel (tr)
• Ukrainian: мозкови́й (mozkovýj), церебра́льний (uk) (cerebrálʹnyj)
• Volapük: breinik

intellectual

• Armenian: մտավոր (hy) (mtavor)
• Catalan: cerebral (ca)
• Czech: intelektuální (cs)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi)
• French: cérébral (fr)
• German: intellektuell (de), geistig (de), kopfig, verkopft (de)
• Indonesian: berotak (id)
• Irish: intleachtúil, meabhrach
• Polish: intelektualny (pl)
• Russian: интеллектуа́льный (ru) (intellektuálʹnyj)
• Turkish: entelektüel (tr)

Etymology 2

Semantic loan from Sanskrit मूर्धन्य (mūrdhanya, “pertaining to the head”).

Adjective

cerebral (comparative more cerebral, superlative most cerebral)

1. (linguistics, obsolete) Retroflex.

Translations

retroflex — see retroflex

References

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

Asturian

Etymology

cerebru +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeɾeˈbɾal/, [θe.ɾeˈβ̞ɾal]

Adjective

cerebral (epicene, plural cerebrales)

1. (anatomy, medicine) cerebral

Related terms

• cerebru

Catalan

Etymology

A learned formation from the root of Latin cerebrum and the suffix -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [sə.ɾəˈβɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [sə.ɾəˈbɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [se.ɾeˈbɾal]

Adjective

cerebral m or f (masculine and feminine plural cerebrals)

1. cerebral

Derived terms

• paràlisi cerebral

Related terms

• cervell

Danish

Etymology

From French cérébral (“cerebral”), from Latin cerebrum (“brain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /serəbraːl/, [serəˈb̥ʁɑːˀl]

Adjective

cerebral

1. cerebral (of, or relating to the brain)

Inflection

Inflection of cerebral
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Indefinte common singular	cerebral	—	—2
Indefinite neuter singular	cerebralt	—	—2
Plural	cerebrale	—	—2
Definite attributive1	cerebrale	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Further reading

• “cerebral” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “cerebral” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Portuguese

Etymology

From cérebro +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /se.ɾeˈbɾaw/ [se.ɾeˈbɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨ.ɾɨˈbɾal/ [sɨ.ɾɨˈβɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨ.ɾɨˈbɾal/ [sɨ.ɾɨˈβɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨ.ɾɨˈbɾa.li/ [sɨ.ɾɨˈβɾa.li]

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: ce‧re‧bral

Adjective

cerebral m or f (plural cerebrais)

1. (relational) brain, cerebral cortex; cerebral

Derived terms

• cerebralmente

Related terms

• cérebro

Further reading

• “cerebral” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “cerebral” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “cerebral” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “cerebral” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “cerebral” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “cerebral” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cérébral.

Adjective

cerebral m or n (feminine singular cerebrală, masculine plural cerebrali, feminine and neuter plural cerebrale)

1. cerebral

Declension

Declension of cerebral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	cerebral		cerebrală	cerebrali	cerebrale
	definite	cerebralul		cerebrala	cerebralii	cerebralele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	cerebral		cerebrale	cerebrali	cerebrale
	definite	cerebralului		cerebralei	cerebralilor	cerebralelor

Spanish

Etymology

From cerebro +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θeɾeˈbɾal/ [θe.ɾeˈβ̞ɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /seɾeˈbɾal/ [se.ɾeˈβ̞ɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ce‧re‧bral

Adjective

cerebral m or f (masculine and feminine plural cerebrales)

1. cerebral

Derived terms

• circunvolución cerebral
• conmoción cerebral
• corteza cerebral
• derrame cerebral
• hemisferio cerebral
• parálisis cerebral
• protuberancia cerebral

 

Related terms

• cerebro

 

Further reading

• “cerebral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Adjective

cerebral (comparative mer cerebral, superlative mest cerebral)

1. (anatomy) cerebral
2. intellectual (rather than emotional)

Declension

Inflection of cerebral
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	cerebral	mer cerebral	mest cerebral
Neuter singular	cerebralt	mer cerebralt	mest cerebralt
Plural	cerebrala	mer cerebrala	mest cerebrala
Masculine plural3	cerebrale	mer cerebrala	mest cerebrala
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	cerebrale	mer cerebrale	mest cerebrale
All	cerebrala	mer cerebrala	mest cerebrala
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

References

• cerebral in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• cerebral in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• cerebral in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)