animalcule
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin animalculum.
Pronunciation
Noun
animalcule (plural animalcules)
- (obsolete) A small animal. [16th-19th c.]
- A microscopic aquatic animal or protozoan. [from 17th c.]
- 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead,
- If we are part of nature, then we are synonymous with it at the metaphysical level, every bit as much as the first all-but-inorganic animalcules that ever formed a chain of themselves in the blow hole of a primordial sea vent.
- 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead,
- (now historical) A spermatozoon. [from 17th c.]
- 2001, David M Friedman, A Mind of its Own, Robert Hale 2009, p. 60:
- Inside the animalcules in the thickest part of the semen he saw ‘all manner of great and small vessels […].’
- 2001, David M Friedman, A Mind of its Own, Robert Hale 2009, p. 60:
Synonyms
Hyponyms
- eye animalcule
- globe animalcule
- rotifer or wheel animalcule
- paramecium or slipper animalcule
- stentor or trumpet animalcule
- peritrich or bell animalcule
- heliozoa or sun animalcule
- amoeba or proteus animalcule
Translations
microscopic animal, protozoan
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French
Noun
animalcule m (plural animalcules)