'anaplasia' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'anaplasis,' where 'ana-' meant 'back' or 'again' and 'plasis' meant 'formation.'

'anaplasis' was adopted into modern medical Latin as 'anaplasia,' and eventually became the modern English word 'anaplasia.'

Initially, it meant 're-formation,' but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'loss of differentiation in cells, especially in cancer.'