HOMUNCULUS


Meaning of HOMUNCULUS in English

— homuncular , adj.

/heuh mung"kyeuh leuhs, hoh-/ , n. , pl. homunculi /-luy'/ .

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.

[ 1650-60; homun- (var. of homin-, s. of homo man; see HOMO) + -culus -CULE 1 ]

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .