homunculus

[huh-muhng-kyuh-luh s, hoh-] /həˈmʌŋ kyə ləs, hoʊ-/
noun, plural homunculi
[huh-muhng-kyuh-lahy, hoh-] /həˈmʌŋ kyəˌlaɪ, hoʊ-/ (Show IPA)
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.
Origin
1650-60; < Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; see Homo) + -culus -cule1
Related forms
homuncular, adjective
Examples from the web for homunculus
  • There is no little homunculus up there watching reality on a screen and then deciding how to proceed.
  • And he points out that exactly the same problem applies to how the homunculus would perceive its own qualia.
  • It's that damned old homunculus problem and an infinite regress.
  • He is a homunculus hatched out of a seething medium of bile and bounced checks.
British Dictionary definitions for homunculus

homunculus

/hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs/
noun (pl) -li (-ˌlaɪ)
1.
a miniature man; midget
2.
(in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg
Former name homuncule (həʊˈmʌŋkjuːl)
Derived Forms
homuncular, adjective
Word Origin
C17: from Latin, diminutive of homo man
Word Origin and History for homunculus
n.

1650s, from Latin homunculus, literally "little person," from homo (genitive hominis) "man, human being," the Latin word that means "man, person, a human being" (technically "male human," but in logical and scholastic writing "human being"), also "the human race, mankind," perhaps from PIE *(dh)ghomon-, literally "earthling," from *dhghem- "earth" (see chthonic; also cf. human). With -culus, Latin diminutive suffix. Other Latin diminutives from homo included homullus, homuncio.

homunculus in Medicine

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.