cloudling

plural cloudlings

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 Thackeray, John St. Loe Strachey, The Cornhill magazine

   1 more example

   “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

   Synonyms: cloudlet