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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin homunculus, diminutive of homō (“man”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /hɒˈmʌŋk.jʊ.ləs/
- (US) IPA(key): /həˈmʌŋk.jə.ləs/, /hoʊˈmʌŋk.jə.ləs/
Noun
homunculus (plural homunculi)
- A miniature man, once imagined by spermists to be present in human sperm.
2025 May 7, Nina Siegal, “A Rarely Seen Angel With a Lesson From History”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2025-05-08:“It’s this snaggletoothed, little bird-footed homunculus caricature,” Bourneuf said. “Many artists at this time were trying to make new altarpieces. Klee tended to take a very skeptical distance from the sort of grandiose projects of many of his expressionist peers, so I think it’s actually kind of mocking those hopes.”
- The nerve map of the human body that exists on the parietal lobe of the human brain.
Quotations
Derived terms
Translations
See also
References
- “homunculus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “homunculus”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “homunculus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin homunculus (“little man”). Compare the adapted borrowing omuncolo.
Pronunciation
Noun
homunculus m (invariable)
- (alchemy, folklore) homunculus (a legendary figure resembling a little man, who was said to be created through alchemy)
- (historical, biology) homunculus (the little man believed by preformationists to be inside human sperm)
- (physiology, neuroscience) homunculus (nerve map realized as a distorted representation of the human body)
- homunculus corticale ― cortical homunculus
- homunculus motorio ― motor homunculus
Further reading
Latin
Etymology
From homō, hominis + -culus.
Pronunciation
Noun
homunculus m (genitive homunculī); second declension
- diminutive of homō (“man”)
- a little or weak man, homunculus
- (rare) a dwarf
- Synonyms: nānus, pūmiliō
Declension
Second-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- “homunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “homunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- homunculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin homunculus.
Noun
homunculus m (plural homunculuși)
- homunculus
Declension