What does "axon" mean?

A nerve fibre which is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, and which conducts nerve impulses away from the body of the cell to a synapse.

What is a synonym for "axon"?

Common synonyms include: axone, brain, cerebral cortex, ganglion, gray matter, nerve.

Axon

//ˈæksɒn// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A nerve fibre which is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, and which conducts nerve impulses away from the body of the cell to a synapse.
2
long nerve fiber that conducts away from the cell body of the neuron wordnet

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms

axone brain cerebral cortex ganglion gray matter nerve

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn, “axis”). Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- cognate with inherited English axle and other borrowed axis, aisle, ala, atelier.

Etymology 2

English surname, from the Middle English personal name Ackeson, equivalent to Acke (a pet form of Adam) + -son. The first element could also be from a variant of the female name Agatha, see also Agate.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.