anlage

[ahn-lah-guh]

noun, plural an·la·gen

[ahn-lah-guh n] /ˈɑn lɑ gən/, an·la·ges. (sometimes initial capital letter)

Embryology. an embryonic area capable of forming a structure: the primordium, germ, or bud.
Psychology. an inherited predisposition to certain traits or to a particular character development.

Origin of anlage

1890–95; < German Anlage foundation, basis, as noun derivative of anlegen to lay on or out, apply, equivalent to an- on + legen to lay¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for anlage

Historical Examples of anlage

According to the author, anlage may be variously rendered as rudiment, inception or primordium.
The Popular Science Monthly, July, 1900
Various
Hatchlings flex the plastron chiefly in the region of the humeropectoral seam, rather than at the anlage of the transverse hinge.
Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz
John M. Legler
A leaf may be formed out of the Anlage of a scale, if all the leaves are cut off, and so on.
The Science and Philosophy of the Organism
Hans Driesch
Braus138 has proved this by transplanting the anlage of a foreleg to different parts of the body.
The Organism as a Whole
Jacques Loeb
As this groove is followed caudad its ventral wall is seen to become much thickened, tg, to form the anlage of the thyroid gland.
Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator
Albert M. Reese

British Dictionary definitions for anlage

anlage

noun plural -gen (-ɡən) or -ges

another word for primordium

Word Origin for anlage

German: predisposition, layout

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anlage

"basis of a later development" (plural anlagen), 1892, from German anlage "foundation, basis," from anlagen (v.) "to establish," from an "on" + legen "to lay" (see lay (v.)).

anlage in Medicine

anlage

n. pl. an•la•ges

The initial clustering of embryonic cells from which a part or an organ develops; primordium.
A genetic predisposition to a given trait or personality characteristic.