Animalcule (noun)
an-im-al-kewl
a minute or microscopic animal, nearly or quite invisible to the naked eye.
Animalcule comes from New Latin animalculum, “small animal.” The animal- element comes from Latin animālis, meaning “living” or, literally, “airy, breathy.” The suffix -culum, “small,”
Example sentences
“Pressed between the two glass slides, a variety of animalcules drifted and skittered through the microscope.”
