germ
pronunciation
How to pronounce germ in British English:
UK [dʒɜːm]
How to pronounce germ in American English:
US [dʒɜːrm]
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- Noun:
- anything that provides inspiration for later work
- a small simple structure (as a fertilized egg) from which new tissue can develop into a complete organism
- a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
Word Origin
- germ
- germ: [17] As its close relatives germane and germinate [17] suggest, germ has more to do etymologically with ‘sprouting’ and ‘coming to life’ than with ‘disease’. It comes via Old French germe from Latin germen ‘sprout, offshoot’, which may go back ultimately to the Indo- European base *gen- ‘produce’ (source of English gene, generate, genitive, etc).The meaning ‘sprout, from which new life develops’ persisted into English (and still occurs in such contexts as wheatgerm – and indeed in metaphorical expressions like ‘the germ of an idea’). Then at the beginning of the 19th century it began to be used to put into words the idea of a ‘seed’ from which a disease grew: ‘The vaccine virus must act in one or other of these two ways: either it must destroy the germe of the small-pox … or it must neutralize this germe’, Medical Journal 1803.By the end of the century it was an accepted colloquialism for ‘harmful microorganism’.=> germane, germinate
- germ (n.)
- mid-15c., "bud, sprout;" 1640s, "rudiment of a new organism in an existing one," from Middle French germe "germ (of egg); bud, seed, fruit; offering," from Latin germen (genitive germinis) "spring, offshoot; sprout, bud," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE root *gen-, *gene- "to beget, bear" (see german (adj.)). The older sense is preserved in wheat germ and germ of an idea; sense of "seed of a disease" first recorded 1796 in English; that of "harmful micro-organism" dates from 1871. Germ warfare recorded from 1920.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Since 2002 tokyo courts have at least acknowledged that unit 731 took part in experiments in germ warfare .
- 2. One reason why it 's tough to reduce salmonella infections is because the germ makes its way into so many different types of foods .
- 3. Healthy omega-6 oils are sesame oil and wheat germ oil .
- 4. As a result , a clutch of rival theories have blossomed , including the contention that an ebola-style virus or the anthrax germ were to blame .
- 5. If only they 'd take the time to learn about how antibiotics work and about how over-prescribing can result in germ mutations that render some antibiotics ineffective . It 's is a real-time illustration of the theory of evolution at work .