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Glite Dictionary
thoracic nerve

thoracic nerve

1 7.3
One of twelve pairs of nerves from the middle of the spine that go to the chest and back
  • noun
  • /θəˈræsɪk nɜrv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : nervio torácico
  • Physical therapy often includes exercises that help strengthen muscles connected to the thoracic nerve.

Examples

  • If the thoracic nerve is injured, it can lead to pain and weakness in the upper body.

  • These nerves are the lateral and medial pectoral nerves, and the long thoracic nerve.

    Blog text (24)

  • The surgeon carefully examined the thoracic nerve to ensure it was not damaged during the operation.

Synonyms

spinal nerve
vsthoracic nerve
  • Specialized
1 4.1

A thin body part that sends messages between the spinal cord and a body area

is limited to twelve pairs in the middle back rather than all spinal pairs
nervus spinalis
vsthoracic nerve
  • Specialized
8.2

A nerve from the spinal cord that carries messages to and from the body

is only the twelve middle back pairs rather than the full thirty one

Surface Forms

thoracic nerve singular
thoracic nerves plural

Morphology

thoracic + nerve

The meaning is transparently compositional: 'thoracic' (chest-related) + 'nerve' yields a nerve located in the thoracic/chest region, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the basic referent. The exact anatomical detail (twelve pairs) is technical, but the core meaning is directly derivable and parallels similar compound patterns in other languages.

Etymology

Thoracic nerve comes from thoracic, an old word for the 'chest', and nerve, the body's 'wires' that carry messages. So a thoracic nerve is literally a nerve for the chest area, which is why these nerves control feeling and movement in the chest and back.