ˈdenˌdrīt noun
( -s )
Etymology: dendr- + -ite
1. : a branching figure resembling a tree produced on or in a mineral or stone (as in the moss agate) by an oxide of manganese or other foreign mineral ; also : the mineral or stone so marked
2. : a crystallized arborescent form (as of gold or silver)
3. : any of the protoplasmic processes of a nerve cell that conduct impulses toward the cell body and that are usually branched and comparatively short : an afferent fiber of a neuron — compare axon