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''nociceptor'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260320113731-00-⌔
nociceptor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
nociceptor (plural nociceptors)
- (anatomy) A sensory receptor that sends signals that cause the perception of pain in response to a potentially damaging stimulus.
- ✤ Synonym: nocisensor
- ✤ Antonym: beneceptor
- ✤ Hypernym: ceptor
- ✤ Hyponyms: chemonociceptor, mechanonociceptor, thermonociceptor
- ✤ He divides receptors into three classes— “nociceptors”, such as the nerve-endings for pain and hunger, “beneceptors”, such as the nerve-endings stimulated when sugar melts on the tongue, and “neutroceptors”, such as the nerve-endings in the eye and ear, called “neutroceptors” because they receive more or less indiscriminately both pleasant and unpleasant messages.1
- ✤ The “beneceptors,” “nociceptors,” and “neutroceptors” generally signalled stimuli that were, respectively, beneficial, harmful, or neutral as regards the organism or its species.2
Etymology
Coined by English neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington in 1906, originally in the spelling noci-ceptor, from noceō + clipped form of receptor, signifying pain detection.
Printed 2026-06-28.
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