germ.
The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
Meaning & usage
The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote. The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote. The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth
A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
the germ of civil liberty
An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.
Where this word comes from
From Middle French germe, from Latin germen (“bud, seed, embryo”). Doublet of germen.
To germinate.
To grow, as if parasitic.
Where this word comes from
From Middle French germe, from Latin germen (“bud, seed, embryo”). Doublet of germen.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.