cerebellum

Learned borrowing from Latin cerebellum, diminutive of cerebrum.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛ.ɹɪˈbɛl.əm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛɹ.əˈbɛl.əm/
• Rhymes: -ɛləm

cerebellum (plural cerebellums or cerebella)

1. (neuroanatomy) Part of the hindbrain in vertebrates. In humans it lies between the brainstem and the back of the cerebrum and is formed of two lateral lobes and a median lobe. It plays an important role in sensory perception, motor output, balance and posture.

   Synonym: parencephalon

   Holonym: hindbrain

   • 2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan, page 61:

     Although the cerebellum occupies just 10 per cent of the cranial cavity, it has more than half the brain’s neurons.

• cerebrum

• “cerebellum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cerebellum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

From cerebrum (“brain”) +‎ -lum (diminutive ending).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ke.reˈbel.lum/, [kɛrɛˈbɛlːʲʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃe.reˈbel.lum/, [t͡ʃereˈbɛlːum]

cerebellum n (genitive cerebellī); second declension

1. Diminutive of cerebrum:
   1. (anatomy) a little brain
   2. the seat of senses, intellect

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• cerebellāre

• “cerebellum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cerebellum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.