cranial nerve
Syllabification: (cra·ni·al nerve)
Definition of cranial nerve
noun
Anatomy- each of twelve pairs of nerves that arise directly from the brain, not from the spinal cord, and pass through separate apertures in the skull.
They are (with conventional roman numbering) the olfactory (I), optic (II), oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), trigeminal (V), abducens (VI), facial (VII), vestibulocochlear (VIII), glossopharyngeal (IX), vagus (X), accessory (XI), and hypoglossal (XII) nerves