diencephalon
/ˌdaɪ̯.ənˈsɛfəlɑn/noun
diencephalon is a noun meaning “The region of the human brain, specifically the human forebrain, that includes the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the epithalamus, the prethalamus or…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-I-E-N-C-E-P-H-A-L-O-N, and it appears about once in every 34 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of diencephalon is diencephalons or diencephala.
What does diencephalon mean?
noun
- 1
The region of the human brain, specifically the human forebrain, that includes the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the epithalamus, the prethalamus or subthalamus, and the pretectum.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce diencephalon?
- /ˌdaɪənˈsɛfəlɒn/
- UK /ˌdaɪ̯.ənˈsɛfəlɒn/
- US /ˌdaɪ̯.ənˈsɛfəlɑn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-diencephalon.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of diencephalon
- diencephalons plural
- diencephala plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is diencephalon?
Diencephalon appears about once in every 34 million words in written English, the 178,202nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Diencephalon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense region of the human brain:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | diencéphale |
| German | Zwischenhirn, Diencephalon, Dienzephalon |
| Portuguese | diencéfalo |
| Spanish | diencéfalo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does diencephalon come from?
From New Latin diencephalon, from di-, prevocalic form of dia- + encephalon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).