Tiny living creatures too small to see without a microscope, especially single-celled organisms like bacteria or protozoans.
From Latin 'animalculum' (diminutive of 'animal'), coined in the 17th century when microscopes first revealed microscopic life forms. The suffix '-cule' means 'very small,' emphasizing their tiny size.
When microscopes were invented in the 1600s, scientists were amazed to discover an entire universe of invisible creatures living in water droplets—they called them animalcules, and this discovery revolutionized biology by proving life existed at scales humans couldn't see.
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