What is the Latin word for brain?

The usual Latin words for “brain” are cerebrum, mēns, cerebellum; also ēlīdō, dīminuō, extrahō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“brain” in Latin

cerebruma brain; a skull; an upper pith mēnsmind; intellect, reason; reasoning, judgement cerebelluma little brain; the seat of senses, intellect ēlīdōto knock, dash or strike out; to tear, force or squeeze out; to shatter or crush dīminuōto break into small pieces; to shatter; to violate, outrage; to diminish, lessen extrahōto drag, pull or draw forth or out; extract, remove; to extricate, release; draw out, extract, eradicate, rescue; to dra

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

brain

cerebrum. A little brain, cerebellum. To beat out the brains, cerebrum extundere, elidere, dispercutere.

FIG., cerebrum, mens. His brain is turned, mente captus est, de or ex mente exiit, mente alienatus est. Is not your brain turned? satin sanus es? To ply his brains, ingenii or mentis vires intendere.

brain v.

alicui cerebrum discutere, diminuere, dispercutere; cerebrum excipere, extrahere.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for brain?: The usual Latin words for “brain” are cerebrum, mēns, cerebellum; also ēlīdō, dīminuō, extrahō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.