corpuscle

American  

[kawr-puhs-uhl] / ˈkɔr pʌs əl /

Also corpuscule

noun

1. Biology. an unattached cell, especially of a kind that floats freely, as a blood or lymph cell.

2. Anatomy. a small mass or body forming a more or less distinct part, as the sensory receptors at nerve terminals.

3. Physical Chemistry. a minute or elementary particle of matter, as an electron, proton, or atom.

4. any minute particle.

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corpuscle British  

/ ˈkɔːpʌsəl, kɔːˈpʌskjʊlə /

noun

1. any cell or similar minute body that is suspended in a fluid, esp any of the red blood corpuscles (erythrocytes) or white blood corpuscles (see leucocytes) See also erythrocyte leucocyte

2. anatomy the encapsulated ending of a sensory nerve

3. physics a discrete particle such as an electron, photon, ion, or atom

4. Also called: corpuscule.  any minute particle

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Other Word Forms

• corpuscular adjective
• corpusculated adjective
• corpusculous adjective

Etymology

Origin of corpuscle

First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin corpusculum, equivalent to corpus “body” + -culum -cle ¹

Explanation

The word corpuscle is a medical term for a living cell, such as a red blood cell. You're most likely to come across the noun corpuscle in a biology class, since it means a small cell, especially one that is free floating. Blood and lymph cells are both considered to be corpuscles because they are suspended in liquid within the body. Sometimes the word is used to mean simply "a small piece of something," which is how corpuscle was originally used, rooted in the Latin corpusculum, "a puny body, an atom, or a particle."

Example Sentences

“Is there in our parks any tree more elegant and leafy than the Purkinje corpuscle of the cerebellum or the psychic cell, in other words, the famous cerebral pyramid?” he asked.

From Scientific American • Apr. 9, 2022

One of these receptors, the Pacinian corpuscle, responds to pressure and vibration.

From The Guardian • Feb. 28, 2021

In fact, as the neuroscientist David Linden explained to me, it involves a predictable misread by something called a Pacinian corpuscle.

From The New Yorker • May 16, 2016

“With not one radiant corpuscle escaping from the star,” Bartusiak writes, “it would remain forever invisible.”

From Washington Post • May 8, 2015

Mendel, perhaps, was the original “anatomist” of the gene: in capturing the movement of information across generations of peas, he had described the essential structure of the gene as an indivisible corpuscle of information.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• bacterium
• egg
• germ
• unit