Cervical Spinal Nerve Root

**Semantic type:** Body Part, Organ, or Organ Component

**Definition:** The initial segment of a nerve leaving the cervical spine. There are eight pairs of cervical roots, each consisting of two parts: the ventral (efferent motor) and the dorsal (afferent sensory) root which unite to form a single spinal nerve. All cervical nerves exit superiorly to their corresponding vertebrae with the exception of C8, which exits inferiorly to the C7 vertebra.

**Synonyms:** - Cervical Spinal Nerve Roots