A small germ or microorganism; a diminutive form representing an incipient or embryonic structure.
From germ with the Latin diminutive suffix -ule (meaning very small), similar to globule or capsule, emphasizing the tiny size of the structure.
Germules were what 19th-century scientists imagined when they tried to explain heredity—they thought tiny preformed creatures existed inside each sperm, which led to some hilariously wrong biological theories.
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