neuron-sparse
|neu-ron-sparse|
🇺🇸
/ˈnʊrən-spɑrs/
🇬🇧
/ˈnjʊərɒn-spɑːs/
few neurons
Etymology
'neuron-sparse' originates from modern English compounding of 'neuron' and 'sparse': 'neuron' ultimately from Greek 'neûron' (νεῦρον) meaning 'nerve, sinew', and 'sparse' from Latin 'sparsus' (past participle of 'spargere') via Old French/ Middle English meaning 'scattered'.
'neuron' entered scientific English in the 19th century (via New Latin/Greek) to denote nerve cells; 'sparse' entered English from Latin/Old French and Middle English with the sense 'scattered' or 'thinly distributed'. In modern technical usage the two elements were combined in English to coin the compound 'neuron-sparse' to describe low neuron density.
Initially the components meant 'nerve' (neuron) and 'scattered/thinly distributed' (sparse); over time, the compound came to be used specifically to mean 'having few neurons' in biological and technical contexts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
having a low density of neurons in a given tissue, brain region, neural network, or model; characterized by relatively few nerve cells.
The cortical sample appeared neuron-sparse compared with age-matched controls, suggesting reduced cellularity in that region.
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Adjective 2
used metaphorically to describe a system, model, or design with minimal neural elements or simplified neural architecture (e.g., in computational neuroscience or machine learning).
The research team compared dense and neuron-sparse models to evaluate performance vs. resource use.
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Last updated: 2025/10/04 00:47