microcosm
/ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌkɑz.əm/noun
microcosm is spelled M-I-C-R-O-C-O-S-M: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, microcosm means “Human nature or the human body as representative of the wider universe; man considered as a miniature counterpart of divine or universal nature” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of microcosm is microcosms.
How many letters and syllables are in microcosm?
| Letters | 9: M-I-C-R-O-C-O-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,998th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is microcosm?
Microcosm appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce microcosm?
- UK /ˈmaɪ.kɹə(ʊ)ˌkɒz.əm/
- US /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌkɑz.əm/
Microcosm has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-microcosm.ogg, En-au-microcosm.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of microcosm
- microcosms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does microcosm mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Human nature or the human body as representative of the wider universe; man considered as a miniature counterpart of divine or universal nature.
The Christian humanists were emphatic in their demand that a man who wishes to understand himself must realize that he is a little world that reflects on a smaller scale the larger world of the universe. […] On the other hand, the whole ide
- 2
obsoleteThe human body; a person.
- 3
A smaller system which is seen as representative of a larger one.
Near-synonyms: epitome, paradigm, model
- 4
A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an experimental model.
The method is relatively labour intensive (24-30 microcosms are run) and more difficult to interpret when compared with other microcosm methods (Shannon et al. 1986; Cairns & Cherry 1993).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Microcosm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense human nature or body as representative of the wider universe:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | microcosme |
| German | Mikrokosmos |
| Portuguese | microcosmo |
| Spanish | microcosmo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does microcosm come from?
From French microcosme, from Latin microcosmus, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) + κόσμος (kósmos, “universe, order”); micro- + -cosm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).