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homunculus

 - 5 dictionary results

ho·mun·cu·lus

   [huh-muhng-kyuh-luhs, hoh-]
–noun,plural-li  [-lahy] .
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.
Use homunculus in a Sentence
Origin:
1650–60; < L, equiv. to homun- (var. of homin-, s. of homō man; see Homo) + -culus -cule1

—Related forms
ho·mun·cu·lar, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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World English Dictionary
homunculus (hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs, həʊˈmʌŋkjuːl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n , pl -li
1.  a miniature man; midget
2.  (in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg
 
[C17: from Latin, diminutive of homo man]
 
ho'muncular
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Word Origin & History

homunculus
1650s, from L., lit. "little person," from homo (gen. hominis) "man, human being" + -culus, dim. suffix, source of English -cle.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

ho·mun·cu·lus definition

Pronunciation: /hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ləs/
Function: n
pl-li; Pronunciation: /-ˌlī, -ˌlē/
: a miniature adult that in the theory of preformation was held to inhabit the germ cell and to produce a mature individual merely by an increase in size
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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homunculus ho·mun·cu·lus (hō-mŭng'kyə-ləs, hə-)
n. pl. ho·mun·cu·li (-lī')

  1. A diminutive human.

  2. A miniature, fully formed individual which adherents of the early biological theory of preformation believed to be present in the sperm cell.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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