Homunculus

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Not to be confused with the Haemonculus, a Dark Eldar social caste/unit in Warhammer 40,000.

A homunculus (plural: homunculi) (and often misspelled in official D&D books as homonculous) is an artificial lifeform created by the use of alchemy. The concept was fully defined and established by alchemists in the 1600s, but the concept goes back into ancient history; the word is Latin for "tiny man". In fantasy settings, homunculi tend to be amongst the simplest members of the Construct family tree, making them distant cousins to golems.

In D&D

In Dungeons & Dragons, the homunculus is an alchemy-spawned golem-like entity typically portrayed as resembling an imp, but without the usual moral hassles of dealing with having a fiend as one's familiar. It gets mispelled as homonculous surprisingly often in official books.

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In Warhammer

Homunculi have appeared in various older sources of Warhammer Fantasy lore, typically as Chaos-created abominations that flock to the service of dark mages.

In Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition, the wizard splatbook presents mechanics for creating homunculi as familiars.