Neuropil

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A fibrous network of nervous tissue that forms the gray matter of the brain
  2. 2
    the complex network of unmyelinated axones, dendrites, and glial branches that form the bulk of the central nervous system's grey matter and in which nerve cell bodies are embedded wordnet

Etymology

Probably an abbreviation of obsolete neuropilema, from Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “nerve”) + πίλημα (pílēma, “felt”); or neuro- + Ancient Greek πῖλος (pîlos, “hair”).

Related phrases

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