From Latin cortex 'bark, rind,' applied by 17th-century anatomists to the outer layer of the brain and other organs.
The outer layer of an organ, especially the outer part of the cerebrum of the brain.
From Latin cortex 'bark, rind, shell,' originally of trees. Anatomists applied it in the 17th century to the outer layer of organs, especially the brain, by analogy with bark covering a tree trunk. The cerebral cortex was distinguished from deeper brain structures by the 1740s. Key roots: *(s)ker- (Proto-Indo-European: "to