Homunculus

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. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions.

For other uses, see Homunculus (disambiguation).

The term lends its name to the cortical homunculus, an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it.

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