Neuron or neurone?
neuron is a noun meaning “A cell of the nervous system, which conducts nerve impulses; consisting of an…”; neurone is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of neuron”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) neuron is about 9.1 times as common as neurone.
What is the difference between neuron and neurone?
| neuron | neurone | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A cell of the nervous system, which conducts nerve impulses; consisting of an axon and several dendrites. Neurons are connected by synapses A nervure of an insect's wing | UKAlternative spelling of neuron |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | neurons, neura | neurones |
| Pronunciation | /ˈn(j)ʊɹɑn/ /ˈn(j)uɹɑn/ /ˈn(j)ɝɑn/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words | about once in every 6 million words |
Sources: neuron and neurone in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of neuron and neurone
neuron
- 1
A cell of the nervous system, which conducts nerve impulses; consisting of an axon and several dendrites. Neurons are connected by synapses
- 2
A nervure of an insect's wing
- 3
A mathematical function serving as an essential unit of an artificial neural network
neurone
- 1
UKAlternative spelling of neuron
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, neuron or neurone?
neuron appears 1.4 times per million words; neurone about once in every 6 million words.
neuron 1.4 times per million wordsneurone about once in every 6 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).