Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
peripheral nervous system

peripheral nervous system

1 4.2
The nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that send messages between the brain and other body parts
  • noun
  • /pəˈrɪfərəl ˈnɜrvəs ˈsɪstəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sistema nervioso periférico
  • Neuromuscular problems: unsteady gait can be a result of muscle injury, inflammation or dystrophy, or a lesion in the central or peripheral nervous system.
  • central and peripheral nervous system

Examples

  • Tumors erupt all up to the peripheral nervous system.

    The Demon Deep in Oklahoma (2013)

  • One is some of the patient's own peripheral nervous system tissue.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The second part of the nervous system is the peripheral nervous system, known as the PNS.

    Blog text (29)

  • I'm afraid the poison caused irreversible damage to the peripheral nervous system.

    Suburban Sasquatch (2004)

  • They're the glia cells in the peripheral nervous system that surround the axons.

  • They form sensory ganglia in the head, also the Schwann cells, peripheral nervous system and some other structures too.

  • It has been suggested (e.g., La Forge, 1995) that psychological modalities may use neurobiological pathways in the central and peripheral nervous systems.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The peripheral nervous system receives information from the environment and relays commands from the central nervous system to organs and glands. (Passage from Miller & Levine, 2004, p. 901)

    Academic text (2012)

  • Stoddard solvent: Repeated or prolonged exposure to high concentrations has resulted in upper respiratory tract irritation, central and peripheral nervous system effects, and possibly hematopoietic, liver, and kidney effects.

    Blog text (18)

  • The peripheral nervous system transmits signals from the body to the brain and spinal cord.

Synonyms

systema nervosum periphericum
vsperipheral nervous system
  • Archaic
8.2

Nerves outside the brain and spine that send messages between the body and brain

is the common English form used instead of the Latin name

Surface Forms

peripheral nervous system singular
peripheral nervous systems plural

Morphology

peripheral + nervous + system

The meaning is directly compositional from 'peripheral' (outer/boundary), 'nervous' (relating to nerves), and 'system' (an interacting ensemble), so a learner who knows these constituents can infer it as the nerves outside the brain/spinal cord. This technical compound follows a common cross-linguistic pattern (e.g., Spanish sistema nervioso periférico), making its sense transparent rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Peripheral nervous system is like a network of wires around a central hub: peripheral means the 'edges' away from the centre, nervous points to the body's nerves that 'send messages', and system is a group of parts. So it means the nerves 'outside' the brain and spinal cord that carry signals to and from the rest of the body.