anlaut

[ ahn-lout ]

noun

, Linguistics.

, plural an·lau·te [ahn, -lou-t, uh], an·lauts.

1. initial position in a word, especially as a conditioning environment in sound change.
2. a sound in this position.

Word History and Origins

Origin of anlaut¹

1880–85; < German, equivalent to an- on + Laut sound, as noun derivative of anlauten to begin (with a given sound)

Example Sentences

She was widely connected and would certainly babble in the very city where his bitter rival Professor Anlaut had maintained that Lombard was West Germanic.

From Project Gutenberg