noun
homunculus
ho-MUHNGK-yuu-luhs
noun
1
A small, human-like figure, especially one imagined as artificially created.
"In the story, the alchemist grows a homunculus in a glass jar."
2
A distorted map of the human body found on the brain's surface, showing which areas control which body parts.
"The sensory homunculus gives huge space to the lips and hands compared to the torso."
How to Use Homunculus
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishLiterally "little man" — used both for a tiny artificial human in old legends and fiction, and for the brain's distorted body-map in neuroscience.
Word Forms
homunculi plural, homunculuses plural
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In the story, the alchemist grows a _____ in a glass jar.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin homunculus, literally "little man", from homo ("man") + the diminutive ending -culus.