cloudling

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.”

   ““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.”