Meanings
- uncountablebiologyThe sense of heat and cold: the ability of humans, and many other organisms, to perceive temperature.
[…] a region which has been shown to be involved in a variety of interoceptive modalities like thermoception, visceral sensations, thirst and hunger.
2006, Fernando Cervero, Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Series 3, Volume 81: Pain, page 2512 more examples
Aristotle failed to specify proprioception (the sense of how our body parts are positioned in space relative to one another), equilibrioception (the sense of linear acceleration and head position), thermoception (the sense of heat and cold) and nociception (the sense of pain).
2007 August 19, Daniel B. Smith, “Without a Net”, in New York TimesThe frog, with its selective eye for instantly usable information; the pit viper, with its thermoception, which at night can sense the blood temperature of its prey; the common house fly, which equilibrates its flight with two cilia—these have supplied a new species of engineers with models.
2008, Georges Canguilhem, Paola Marrati, Todd Meyers, Knowledge of life, page 175Synonyms: thermoreception
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe sense of heat and cold: the ability of humans, and many other organisms, to perceive temperature.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 熱感應 /热感应, 溫度覺 /温度觉
- 熱感應 /热感应sense of heat and cold
- 溫度覺 /温度觉sense of heat and cold
Finnish lämpötila-aisti
- lämpötila-aistisense of heat and cold
German Temperatursinn, Thermorezeption
- Temperatursinnsense of heat and cold
- Thermorezeptionsense of heat and cold
- Thermozeptionsense of heat and cold
Italian termocezione
- termocezionesense of heat and cold
Polish termorecepcja, zmysł temperatury
- termorecepcjasense of heat and cold
- zmysł temperaturysense of heat and cold
Russian термоцепция, чу́вство температуры
- термоцепция (termocepcija)sense of heat and cold
- чу́вство температуры (čúvstvo temperatury)sense of heat and cold
Cite this entry
thermoception. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermoception
“thermoception.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermoception. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thermoception,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermoception.
Source: thermoception on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.