homunculus
Americannoun
plural
homunculi-
an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist.
-
a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon.
-
a diminutive human being.
-
the human fetus.
noun
-
a miniature man; midget
-
(in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg
Other Word Forms
- homuncular adjective
Etymology
Origin of homunculus
1650–60; < Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; Homo ) + -culus -cule 1
Explanation
A homunculus is a "little man." In the 17th century, theorists called preformationists argued that a human being begins life as a tiny, preformed person — a homunculus — encapsulated in the sperm or, as some thought, in the egg. The preformationists were arguing against Aristotle's view that humans and other organisms begin life as unformed material that gradually takes shape, and, in the case of humans, this process includes a moment of "ensoulment" — when the embryo gets a soul and becomes fully human. A homunculus can also be a "little man" of any sort. You can describe your Ken doll as a homunculus. The word is the diminutive of the Latin word homo "man."
Vocabulary lists containing homunculus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Motor homunculus regions were thought to only be linked to each other across the brain’s hemispheres, the left hand with the right hand, and the left foot with the right foot.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
The homunculus likely lived to the age of 90 because everyone loves a good story.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
This and other research began to nudge us toward the conclusion that, after 90 years, the homunculus model of the homunculus was ready for retirement.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
These connections to higher-order control regions planted the idea that the three-spot network might be important for merging motor command signals from the homunculus with neural activity for more abstract planning.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
The theory was so seductive—so artfully vivid—that even the invention of the microscope was unable to deal the expected fatal blow to the homunculus.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
