homunculus

[ huh-muhng-kyuh-luhs, hoh- ]

See synonyms for homunculus on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural ho·mun·cu·li

[huh-muhng-kyuh-lahy, hoh-]. /həˈmʌŋ kyəˌlaɪ, hoʊ-/.

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.

Origin of homunculus

1650–60; <Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; see Homo) + -culus-cule¹

Other words from homunculus

ho·mun·cu·lar, adjective

Words Nearby homunculus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use homunculus in a sentence

In Sentient, we learn that spread across the human brain we can find a “sensory homunculus,” a touch map of the body with supersize areas corresponding to our hands and lips, reflecting the density of touch sensors in these zones.
Inside the enigmatic minds of animals | Matthew Ponsford | October 24, 2022 | MIT Technology Review
homunculus whales at this interval, erupting from a patch of ocean without pattern.
The Whale Who Will Come Soon - Issue 105: Whale Songs | Rebecca Giggs | September 8, 2021 | Nautilus
My scanned homunculus, dick and all, surely will appear online then go viral.
TSA Is Not Trying to Kill You | Kent Sepkowitz | November 23, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
homunculus denotes the weak and powerless being called man, with reference to the whole race, in opp.
Dderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes | Ludwig Dderlein
We are far ahead of Tristram Shandy, nowadays; the inferiority of the homunculus is no mere matter of accident or interruption.
The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 1 | Elizabeth Bisland

The word imports what the Latins call homunculus, the Italians homunceletino, and the English mannikin.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I | Francis W. Halsey
Then came a yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus rushed by us shrieking.
The Island of Doctor Moreau | H. G. Wells
You men of the nineteenth century know only by reputation of our attempts to produce an homunculus, and a perpetuum mobile naturæ.
The Magic of the Middle Ages | Viktor Rydberg

British Dictionary definitions for homunculus

homunculus

/ (hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs) /

nounplural -li (-ˌlaɪ)

a miniature man; midget
(in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg

Origin of homunculus

C17: from Latin, diminutive of homo man

Former name: homuncule (həʊˈmʌŋkjuːl)

Derived forms of homunculus

homuncular, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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