Dictionary

corpuscle en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɔɹˌpʌsəl/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɔːˌpʌsəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Latin corpusculum, diminutive of corpus (“body”).

Meanings

1. A minute particle; an atom; a molecule.
   • [b]y mixing divers Liquors, very odd and remarkable Productions and Changes of Colours may be effected, of which no cause can be more obvious and rational than that the saline Corpuscles of one Liquor do variously act upon or unite with the tinging Corpuscles of another, so as to make them swell, or shrink, (whereby not only their bulk but their density also may be changed,) or to divide them into smaller Corpuscles, (whereby a colour'd Liquor may become transparent,) or to make many of them associate into one cluster, whereby two transparent Liquors may compose a colour'd one. 1730, Isaac Newton, “The Second Book of Opticks, Part III, Proposition V”, in Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, 4th edition, London, Kingdom of England: William Innys, page 253:
   • It is the object of the mechanical atomistic philosophy to confound synthesis with synartesis, or rather with mere juxtaposition of corpuscles separated by invisible interspaces. 1809, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Friend:
2. A protoplasmic animal cell; especially, such as float free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as are embedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective tissue and cartilage corpuscles.
   • They gave me blood tests, of course. All kinds of blood tests testing my white corpuscles, testing my red corpuscles, testing one against the other. 2017, Sam Shepard, Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 5:

Forms

Deriveds

Rainey's corpuscle · Malpighian corpuscle · Pacinian corpuscle · lamellar corpuscle · white blood corpuscle · blood corpuscle · Vater-Pacini corpuscle · renal corpuscle · red corpuscle · kidney corpuscle · Ruffini's corpuscle

Relateds

corpuscularism · corpuscularianism · corpuscular

Translations (34)

sh korpùskula (A minute particle) · bg телце (A minute particle) · fr corpuscule (A minute particle) · cs částice (A minute particle) · cmn 小体 (A minute particle) · mi pōkurukuru (A minute particle) · de Korpuskel (A minute particle) · cs korpuskule (A minute particle) · fa ذره (A minute particle) · eo globeto (A minute particle) · ro corpuscul (A minute particle) · ru части́ца (A minute particle) · ro particulă (A minute particle) · bg частица (A minute particle) · ga coirpín (A minute particle) · fa کرپول (A minute particle) · pl cząsteczka (A minute particle) · ru части́чка (A minute particle) · pt corpúsculo (A minute particle) · kmr tenolke (A minute particle) · es corpúsculo (A minute particle) · ru корпу́скула (A minute particle) · eo korpusklo (A minute particle) · ca corpuscle (A minute particle) · fi hiukkanen (A minute particle) · sh корпу̀скула (A minute particle) · cs částečka (A minute particle) · fi hitunen (A minute particle) · pl korpuskuła (A minute particle) · ru те́льце (A minute particle) · io globulo (A minute particle) · it corpuzzo (A minute particle) · it corpuscolo (A minute particle) · eo korpeto (A minute particle)