Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
ventral horn

ventral horn

8.7
Front part of the spinal cord that has nerve cells sending signals to muscles
  • noun
  • /ˈvɛntrəl hɔrn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cuerno ventral
  • The ventral horn contains motor neurons that send signals to muscles.

Examples

  • Damage to the ventral horn can lead to muscle weakness and paralysis.

  • In mammals, the ventral horn of the spinal cord is crucial for movement control.

  • OK, but look at those, the ventral horn in particular and also just the size of the cord.

  • It's found in in the ventral part, the ventral horns of the spinal cord.

Synonyms

anterior horn
vsventral horn
  • Specialized
9.3

The front part of the spinal cord that contains nerve cells controlling muscles

has identical meaning but uses an alternate anatomical name

Surface Forms

ventral horn singular
ventral horns plural

Morphology

ventral + horn

The constituents give partial cues: 'ventral' means front/belly side and 'horn' suggests a horn-like projection, so a learner could infer this is a front-facing, horn-shaped part of the body/spinal cord. However the precise technical sense ('an anterior column of gray matter containing motor neurons') requires anatomical knowledge and is not fully predictable from the common meanings, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The term ventral horn comes from how this part of the spinal cord looks and where it sits: ventral means 'front' or 'belly side', and horn describes the gray matter that sticks out like a small horn when the cord is seen in a cut. That's why the ventral horn today means the front area with motor nerve cells that 'send signals to muscles'.