Search results
- Dictionaryhomuncular/hɒˈmʌŋkjʊlə/
adjective
- 1. (of a person or animal) very small; diminutive. rare
Powered by Oxford Dictionaries
A homunculus ( UK: / hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs / hom-UNK-yuul-əs, US: / hoʊˈ -/ hohm-, Latin: [hɔˈmʊŋkʊlʊs]; "little person", pl.: homunculi UK: / hɒˈmʌŋkjʊliː / hom-UNK-yuul-ee, US: / hoʊˈ -/ hohm-, Latin: [hɔˈmʊŋkʊli]) is a small human being. [1] .
The meaning of HOMUNCULAR is resembling or characteristic of a homunculus.
1. a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon. 2. a graphic projection of the human image onto the surface of the motor cortex of the brain, depicting the extent of the area activating each part of the body subject to voluntary control.
homunculus, diminutive fully formed human body, historically believed to inhabit a germ cell (an egg or a sperm) and to have the capacity to increase in size, giving rise to an adult human.
homunculus. noun. ho· mun· cu· lus hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ləs. plural homunculi -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.
an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist. a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon. a diminutive human being. the human fetus. homunculus. / hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs / noun. a miniature man; midget.
a person who is very small or diminutive. synonyms: manikin, mannikin. see more. noun. a tiny fully formed individual that (according to the discredited theory of preformation) is supposed to be present in the sperm cell. see more. Cite this entry. Style: MLA. "Homunculus."
The earliest known use of the adjective homuncular is in the 1820s. OED's only evidence for homuncular is from 1822, in the writing of John Mason Good, physician and surgeon. homuncular is formed within English, by derivation.
Homuncular definition: Of or pertaining to a <a>homunculus</a>.
homuncular (comparative more homuncular, superlative most homuncular) Of or pertaining to a homunculus.
