lablet

n.

A small laboratory, especially one close to and associated with a university.

Example Citation:

"Each lablet, which will house 20 to 30 researchers, will help Intel link up with a professor whose work fits with the firm's strategic plans."

— Robert Buderi, "Intel revamps R&D," Technology Review, October 2001

Earliest Citation:

"Eli brought the strange fish [a pacu] to the local aquaculture laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, which fingered it as a piranha. ... Mr. Ortenberg admitted that the aquaculture station should have looked the pacu in the mouth but thought that, under the circumstances, it had made a reasonable guess. 'It's not really a laboratory, just a lablet,' he said."

— Hillel Halkin, "EXTRA! Fake Piranhas Invade Sea of Galilee," Ethnic NewsWatch, December 30, 1994

Notes:

The suffix -let, "small one," has been used to turn normal-sized words into diminutives for nearly 600 years, and it remains a popular affix to this day. Other -let constructions that we've seen recently are applet, a small software application, especially one written in the Java language, and filmlet, a short film, especially one streamed from a Web site. Lablet is fairly new, as well.

Related Words:

collaboratory

craplet

Category:

Science (General)