cloudling

A small or miniature cloud; an immature or formative stage in the development of a cloud.

Noun

  1. A small or miniature cloud; an immature or formative stage in the development of a cloud.
    • And yet at first it seemed hard to believe that so innocent a cloudling could be the progenitor of mist dense enough to blot out even a section of the enormous landscape. - 1894, George Smith, William Makepeace...
    • “I'll give you an example: a cloudling may coalesce one morning and rise to the sky, ready to meander across the horizon for a few hours before joining a bank of other cloudlings. - 2009, Chloe Aridjis, Book of clouds:

Origin

From cloud + -ling.

Forms

cloudlings

Synonyms

cloudlet