Subplate

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A temporary layer of neural tissue in the developing brain, lying beneath the cortical plate and holding axons while they wait to connect
2. The transient zone of the fetal brain situated under the forming cerebral cortex, where growing nerve fibres pause before reaching their targets
3. A short-lived band of cells in the embryonic cerebrum that sits below the developing cortex and temporarily houses incoming connecting fibres

Etymology: "Subplate" is a plain compound: the Latin-derived prefix "sub-", meaning "under" or "beneath", attached to "plate", a flat, thin sheet of material. A subplate is therefore a layer or sheet lying beneath another plate, and the word is built transparently from its two parts rather than borrowed whole from another language. The term is most often used in technical and scientific contexts, where a plate or layer sits underneath a main structure and supports or underlies it. Because the components are so transparent, the word needs little explanation beyond its parts: a plate placed below another plate.