anlage

[ahn-lah-guh]

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

plural

anlagen, anlages 

1. Embryology.,  an embryonic area capable of forming a structure: the primordium, germ, or bud.

2. Psychology.,  an inherited predisposition to certain traits or to a particular character development.

anlage

/ ˈænˌlɑːɡə /

noun

1. another word for primordium

Word History and Origins

Origin of anlage¹

1890–95; < German Anlage foundation, basis, as noun derivative of anlegen to lay on or out, apply, equivalent to an- on + legen to lay ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of anlage¹

German: predisposition, layout

Example Sentences

Hatchlings flex the plastron chiefly in the region of the humeropectoral seam, rather than at the anlage of the transverse hinge.

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Rudiment, used here as a translation for the word anlage, which means the first plotting-out or beginning of a living structure.

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Once I saw enacted above ground, and in the light of day, something which may have had its roots in an anlage of divine discontent.

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As this groove is followed caudad its ventral wall is seen to become much thickened, tg, to form the anlage of the thyroid gland.

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When the embryos were studied the one-eyed condition was found to result from the union or fusion of the 'anlagen' of the two eyes.

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