Meanings
nounlanugo (countable and uncountable, plural lanugos)
plural lanugos
- countableuncountableSoft down or fine hair, specifically that covering the human foetus or a tumorous area.
[…] early spring mountains with young-elephant lanugo along their spines […]
1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita1 more example
From the presence of the woolly hair or lanugo on the human fœtus, and of rudimentary hairs scattered over the body during maturity, we may infer that man is descended from some animal which was born hairy and remained so during life.
1874, Charles Darwin, “Chaper XX”, in The Descent of Man
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂welh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂
- Proto-Italic*wlāna
- Latinlāna
- Latinlānūgō
- Englishlanugo
Borrowed from Latin lānūgō.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian лануго
- лануго (lanugo)soft down or fine hair
Catalan lanugen
- lanugensoft down or fine hair
Chinese Mandarin 胎毛, 胎髮 /胎发
- 胎毛 (tāimáo)soft down or fine hair
- 胎髮 /胎发 (tāifà)soft down or fine hair
- 奶毛 (nǎimáo)soft down or fine hair
Finnish untuvakarva, lanugo
- untuvakarvasoft down or fine hair
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
French lanugo
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
German Lanugo
- Lanugosoft down or fine hair
Indonesian lanugo
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
Italian lanugo, lanugine
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
- lanuginesoft down or fine hair
Polish lanugo
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
Spanish lanugo
- lanugosoft down or fine hair
Welsh goflew
- goflewsoft down or fine hair
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
lanugo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lanugo
MLA
“lanugo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lanugo. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lanugo,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lanugo.
Source: lanugo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.