homunculus

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

noun

, plural ho·mun·cu·li [h, uh, -, muhng, -ky, uh, -lahy, hoh-].

1. an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist.
2. a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon.
3. a diminutive human being.
4. the human fetus.

homunculus

/ hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs /

noun

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

Derived Forms

• hoˈmuncular, adjective

Other Words From

• ho·muncu·lar adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of homunculus¹

1650–60; < Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; Homo ) + -culus -cule ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of homunculus¹

C17: from Latin, diminutive of homo man

Example Sentences

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.

From MIT Technology Review

Homunculus whales at this interval, erupting from a patch of ocean without pattern.

From Nautilus

My scanned homunculus, dick and all, surely will appear online then go viral.

From The Daily Beast

Homunculus denotes the weak and powerless being called man, with reference to the whole race, in opp.

From Project Gutenberg

We are far ahead of Tristram Shandy, nowadays; the inferiority of the homunculus is no mere matter of accident or interruption.

From Project Gutenberg

The word imports what the Latins call homunculus, the Italians homunceletino, and the English mannikin.

From Project Gutenberg

Then came a yelling, a crashing among the branches, and a little pink homunculus rushed by us shrieking.

From Project Gutenberg

You men of the nineteenth century know only by reputation of our attempts to produce an homunculus, and a perpetuum mobile naturæ.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gnome
• goblin
• gremlin
• hobgoblin
• troll