germ layer

noun

one of the three primary embryonic cell layers.

Compare ectoderm, endoderm, mesoderm.

Origin of germ layer

First recorded in 1875–80

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

Examples from the Web for germ layer

Historical Examples of germ layer

He it was who introduced the terms "Keimhaut" (blastoderm) and "Keimblatt" (germ-layer).
Form and Function
E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
Remak is the second great name in the history of the germ-layer theory.
Form and Function
E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
He used the germ-layer theory to prove the essential unity of type of all the Triploblastica.
Form and Function
E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
If the germ-layer theory is no longer credited, upon what fundamental laws is embryology based?
The Origin of Vertebrates
Walter Holbrook Gaskell
In this manner the foundations of the germ-layer theory were established in their modern form.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3
Various

British Dictionary definitions for germ layer

germ layer

noun

embryol any of the three layers of cells formed during gastrulationSee ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm

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

germ layer in Medicine

germ layer

Any of the three primary cellular layers, the ectoderm, endoderm, or mesoderm, into which most animal embryos differentiate and from which the organs and tissues of the body develop.

germ layer in Science

germ layer

Any of three cellular layers, the ectoderm, endoderm, or mesoderm, into which most animal embryos differentiate in the gastrula stage and from which the organs and tissues of the body develop through further differentiation.