nociceptor

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sensory receptor that sends signals that cause the perception of pain in response to a potentially damaging stimulus.

Word forms

nociceptor nociceptors

Etymology

Coined by English neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington in 1906, originally in the spelling noci-ceptor, from noceō + clipped form of receptor, signifying pain detection.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.