What does "nephron" mean?

The basic structural and functional unit of the kidney, which filters the blood in order to regulate chemical concentrations, and thereby produces urine.

What is a synonym for "nephron"?

Common synonyms include: uriniferous tubule.

Nephron

//ˈnɛ.fɹɒn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The basic structural and functional unit of the kidney, which filters the blood in order to regulate chemical concentrations, and thereby produces urine.
2
any of the small tubules that are the excretory units of the vertebrate kidney wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

uriniferous tubule

Example

More examples

"The nephron is the kidney's basic structural and functional unit, responsible for blood purification."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós, “kidney”) + -on.

Related phrases

nephron loop

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