nucleus
pronunciation
How to pronounce nucleus in British English:
UK [ˈnjuːkliəs]
How to pronounce nucleus in American English:
US [ˈnuːkliəs]
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- Noun:
- a part of the cell containing DNA and RNA and responsible for growth and reproduction
- the positively charged dense center of an atom
- a small group of indispensable persons or things
- (astronomy) the center of the head of a comet; consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail
- any histologically identifiable mass of neural cell bodies in the brain or spinal cord
Word Origin
- nucleus
- nucleus: see nut
- nucleus (n.)
- 1704, "kernel of a nut," 1708, "head of a comet," from Latin nucleus "kernel," from nucula "little nut," diminutive of nux (genitive nucis) "nut," from PIE *kneu- "nut" (cognates: Middle Irish cnu, Welsh cneuen, Middle Breton knoen "nut," Old Norse hnot, Old English hnutu "nut"). General sense of "central part or thing, about which others cluster" is from 1762. Use in reference to cells first recorded 1831. Modern atomic meaning is 1912, first by Ernest Rutherford, though theoretical use for "central point of an atom" is from 1844, in Faraday.
Example
- 1. Henize 2-10 is irregularly shaped , with no central nucleus .
- 2. The nucleus of each cell is labeled blue .
- 3. The so-called liberal professions law , medicine , journalism , education and science now formed the nucleus of educated society and public life .
- 4. The remaining electrons form a shell around the atom 's nucleus .
- 5. Emotions are most closely linked with structures called the amygdala , caudate nucleus and putamen .