homunculus

noun

ho·​mun·​cu·​lus hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ləs How to pronounce homunculus (audio)
plural homunculi hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ˌlī How to pronounce homunculus (audio)
-ˌlē
1
: a little man : manikin
2
: a miniature adult that in the theory of preformation is held to inhabit the germ cell and to produce a mature individual merely by an increase in size

Examples of homunculus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web What was this distinct brain network right in the middle of the homunculus? Nico U.f. Dosenbach, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2023 Overall, our findings mean that the homunculus wears no clothes. Nico U.f. Dosenbach, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2023 But now, in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers suggest the homunculus map is missing some key parts. Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2023 Your mouth is a highly sensitive area with a disproportionate number of neurons dedicated to it; the homunculus, the carnival-like depiction of our body as expressed in our brain, shows it as having greater sensory significance than the entire torso. Dana Smith, Discover Magazine, 28 Apr. 2014 That’s my homunculus: the storyteller of Emma. Emma Marris, Discover Magazine, 27 Jan. 2015 The skewed mental map is remarkably similar to another map called Penfield’s homunculus, which charts the areas of the brain’s somatosensory cortex (the bit that processes touch information) that is devoted to each body part. Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2010 By stimulating different points and seeing what happened, the neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield first mapped the motor homunculus in 1937 and this account has become the orthodox view of how the motor cortex is organized. Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 Dec. 2015 In other words, the blogger posted the well-hung homunculus as a joke, not a scientific claim. Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 15 May 2015 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'homunculus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin, diminutive of homin-, homo human being — more at homage

First Known Use

1656, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of homunculus was in 1656

Dictionary Entries Near homunculus

Cite this Entry

“Homunculus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homunculus. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Medical Definition

homunculus

noun
ho·​mun·​cu·​lus hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ləs How to pronounce homunculus (audio)
plural homunculi -ˌlī How to pronounce homunculus (audio) -ˌlē How to pronounce homunculus (audio)
: 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

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