Leeuwenhoek

American  

[ley-vuhn-hook, ley-y-wuhn-hook] / ˈleɪ vənˌhʊk, ˈleɪ ü wənˌhuk /

Or Leuwenhoek

noun

1. Anton van 1632–1723, Dutch naturalist and microscopist.

---

Leeuwenhoek British  

/ ˈleːwənhuːk, ˈleɪvənˌhuːk /

noun

1. Anton van (ˈɑntɔn vɑn). 1632–1723, Dutch microscopist, whose microscopes enabled him to give the first accurate description of blood corpuscles, spermatozoa, and microbes

---

Leeuwenhoek Scientific  

/ lā′vən-hk′ /

1. Dutch naturalist and pioneer of microscopic research. He was the first to describe protozoa, bacteria, and spermatozoa. He also made observations of yeasts, red blood cells, and blood capillaries, and traced the life histories of various animals, including the flea, ant, and weevil.

---

Example Sentences

Ever since Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered the world of bacteria through a microscope in the late seventeenth century, humans have tried to look deeper into the world of the infinitesimally small.

From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2023

While Leeuwenhoek could never have imagined this at the time, the cells that he had spotted are unlike anything else in the human body.

From Salon • Jan. 2, 2023

This context is crucial in understanding why Leeuwenhoek initially assumed sperm were nothing special.

From Salon • Jan. 2, 2023

The microscopes we use today are far more complex than those used in the 1600s by Antony van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch shopkeeper who had great skill in crafting lenses.

From Textbooks • Sep. 6, 2018

“Let us examine pond water for algae. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first man to have seen what you will see today. He was a wool merchant, much as I was a cotton merchant.”

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly