dorsal horn vs afferent nerve

dorsal horn and afferent nerve both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
dorsal horn	Yes	No	No	No
afferent nerve	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, afferent nerve is a hypernym of dorsal horn; that is, afferent nerve is a word with a broader meaning than dorsal horn:

dorsal horn: one of two roots of a spinal nerve that passes dorsally from the spinal cord and that consists of sensory fibers
afferent nerve: a nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system

Other hypernyms of dorsal horn include afferent, sensory nerve.

dorsal horn (noun)	afferent nerve (noun)
one of two roots of a spinal nerve that passes dorsally from the spinal cord and that consists of sensory fibers	a nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system