Dictionary entry

Microcosm

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Mi″cro‐cosm (?), n. [F. microcosme, L. microcosmus, fr. Gr. μικρόσ small + κόσμοσ the world.] A little world; a miniature universe. Hence (so called by Paracelsus), a man, as a supposed epitome of the exterior universe or great world. Opposed to macrocosm. Shak.