Myelin

//ˈmaɪəlɪn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A white, fatty material, composed of lipids and lipoproteins, that surrounds the axons of nerves. countable, uncountable

    "As the result of prolonged action of water upon myelin, bird's-nests-cells are also said to be produced, and we are certain we have seen, as the result of such prolonged action of water, the appearances thus compared."

  2. 2
    a white fatty substance that forms a medullary sheath around the axis cylinder of some nerve fibers wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
medullamyeline

Example

More examples

"As the result of prolonged action of water upon myelin, bird's-nests-cells are also said to be produced, and we are certain we have seen, as the result of such prolonged action of water, the appearances thus compared."

Etymology

From myelo- + -in. From Ancient Greek μυελός (muelós, “marrow”).

Related phrases

myelin basic proteinmyelin oligodendrocyte glycoproteinmyelin protein zeromyelin sheath

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