neurotransmitter

Etymology

It is formed from English neuro- + transmitter.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Neuro- comes from Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew, string; nerve”),^[4] and transmitter from transmit, from Latin trānsmittō (“to send across”).^[4] The second element alone had been used in physiology in the same sense since 1930,^[2] and neurotransmission is also recorded from 1961.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A chemical released at the end of a nerve fibre that carries the impulse across a synapse: 1961, in The Lancet;^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1961,^[3] Etymonline 1959,^[4] and Dictionary.com the early 1960s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to physiology from the start, where it names a substance released by a nerve ending when an impulse arrives, which crosses the synapse to excite or inhibit the next nerve cell or a muscle.^[2][6] Dictionaries give acetylcholine, norepinephrine and dopamine as examples.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1961 – a chemical that carries nerve impulses across a synapse.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to 1959.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chemical substance, such as acetylcholine or dopamine, that carries nerve impulses across a synapse from one neuron to another or to a muscle.^[3][8][2]

Related words

• nerve
• neuron
• transmit
• transmission

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins