plexus

Borrowed from Latin plexus (“a twining, plaiting, braid”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈplɛk.səs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛksəs

plexus (plural plexuses or plexus or plexi)

1. (anatomy) A network of anastomosing or interwoven nerves, blood vessels, or lymphatic vessels.

   Hyponyms: brachial plexus, cardiac plexus, celiac plexus, choroid plexus, Exner's plexus, internal carotid plexus, pelvic plexus, solar plexus, venous plexus

   • 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Grove Press, published 1961:

     I have the sensation of being immersed in the very plexus of life, focal from whatever place, position or attitude I take my stance.

2. An interwoven combination of parts or elements in a structure or system.
   1. (mathematics) The system of equations required for the complete expression of the relations which exist between a set of quantities.
      • 1866, Brande & C, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art‎^[1], page 935:

        Plexus (Lat.). The system of equations required for the complete expression of the relations which exist between a set of quantities.

• rete

• “plexus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “plexus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “plexus”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• suplex

• Audio:

  (file)

plexus m (plural plexussen)

1. plexus

• Audio:

  (file)

plexus m (uncountable)

1. plexus

• “plexus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈplek.sus/, [ˈpɫ̪ɛks̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈplek.sus/, [ˈplɛksus]

Perfect passive participle of plectō (“to plait, braid, interweave”).

plexus (feminine plexa, neuter plexum); first/second-declension participle

1. perfect passive participle of plectō
2. (pre-Classical) involved, intricate, entangled, ambiguous

First/second-declension adjective.

From plectō (“to plait, braid, interweave”) +‎ -tus (action noun suffix).

plexus m (genitive plexūs); fourth declension

1. (poetic) a twining, plaiting, braid

Fourth-declension noun.

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