CRANIAL NERVE

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cranial nerve mean? 

• CRANIAL NERVE (noun)
  The noun CRANIAL NERVE has 1 sense:

1. any of the 12 paired nerves that originate in the brain stem

  Familiarity information: CRANIAL NERVE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRANIAL NERVE (noun)

Meaning:

Any of the 12 paired nerves that originate in the brain stem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("cranial nerve" is a kind of...):

nerve; nervus (any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cranial nerve"):

first cranial nerve; nervii olfactorii; olfactory nerve (a collective term for numerous olfactory filaments in the nasal mucosa)

accessory nerve; eleventh cranial nerve; nervus accessorius; spinal accessory (arises from two sets of roots (cranial and spinal) that unite to form the nerve)

nervus vagus; pneumogastric; pneumogastric nerve; tenth cranial nerve; vagus; vagus nerve; wandering nerve (a mixed nerve that supplies the pharynx and larynx and lungs and heart and esophagus and stomach and most of the abdominal viscera)

glossopharyngeal nerve; nervus glossopharyngeus; ninth cranial nerve (sensory nerve to the pharynx and back of the tongue; motor fibers innervate muscles that elevate the pharynx and larynx; includes parasympathetic fibers to the otic ganglion)

acoustic nerve; auditory nerve; eighth cranial nerve; nervus vestibulocochlearis; vestibulocochlear nerve (a composite sensory nerve supplying the hair cells of the vestibular organ and the hair cells of the cochlea)

facial; facial nerve; nervus facialis; seventh cranial nerve (cranial nerve that supplies facial muscles)

abducens; abducens nerve; abducent; abducent nerve; nervus abducens; sixth cranial nerve (a small motor nerve supplying the lateral rectus muscle of the eye)

fifth cranial nerve; nervus trigeminus; trigeminal; trigeminal nerve; trigeminus (the main sensory nerve of the face and motor nerve for the muscles of mastication)

fourth cranial nerve; trochlear; trochlear nerve; trochlearis (either of the two cranial nerves on either side that control the superior oblique muscles of the eyes)

nervus oculomotorius; oculomotor; oculomotor nerve; third cranial nerve (supplies extrinsic muscles of the eye)

nervus opticus; optic nerve; optic tract; second cranial nerve (the cranial nerve that serves the retina)

hypoglossal; hypoglossal nerve; nervus hypoglosus; twelfth cranial nerve (supplies intrinsic muscles of the tongue and other tongue muscles)