Homunculus
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A miniature man, once imagined by spermists to be present in human sperm.
"Ser Perth stayed near him most of the time now. The man was obviously worried, but tried not to show it. "We've managed to get some testosterone from a blond homunculus," he reported. "That should put you on your feet in no time. Don't worry, young man we'll keep you vivified somehow until the Sign changes." But he didn't sound convincing."
- 2 a tiny fully formed individual that (according to the discredited theory of preformation) is supposed to be present in the sperm cell wordnet
- 3 The nerve map of the human body that exists on the parietal lobe of the human brain.
- 4 a person who is very small but who is not otherwise deformed or abnormal wordnet
Example
More examples"Ser Perth stayed near him most of the time now. The man was obviously worried, but tried not to show it. "We've managed to get some testosterone from a blond homunculus," he reported. "That should put you on your feet in no time. Don't worry, young man we'll keep you vivified somehow until the Sign changes." But he didn't sound convincing."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin homunculus, from homō (“man”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).
Related phrases
More for "homunculus"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.