Also found in: Dictionary.
Related to spermism: Ovism, Preformation theory


The belief by preformationists that the male sex cell (sperm) contains a miniature preformed body called the homunculus.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
But she does not show how preformation, either ovism or spermism, was transformed from an elite theory of scientists into a popular idea: did average early modern European men and women believe preformation explained generation?