anlage

[ ahn-lah-guh ]

/ ˈɑn lɑ gə /

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.

Nearby words

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for anlage

The respiratory system is represented by the anlage of the lungs, a longitudinal protrusion of the ventral wall of the esophagus.
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation|Austin O'Malley
Braus138 has proved this by transplanting the anlage of a foreleg to different parts of the body.
The Organism as a Whole|Jacques Loeb
According to the author, anlage may be variously rendered as rudiment, inception or primordium.
The Popular Science Monthly, July, 1900|Various
By virtue of this difference the egg-substance is characterized as the Anlage, or germ of the mature organism.
A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution|Carl Von Ngeli

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

British Dictionary definitions for anlage

anlage

/ (ˈænˌlɑːɡə) /

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

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.)).

Medicine definitions for anlage

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.