germ

[jurm] /dʒɜrm/
noun
1.
a microorganism, especially when disease-producing; microbe.
2.
a bud, offshoot, or seed.
3.
the rudiment of a living organism; an embryo in its early stages.
4.
the initial stage in development or evolution, as a germ cell or ancestral form.
5.
something that serves as a source or initial stage for subsequent development:
the germ of an idea.
adjective
6.
Pathology. of, pertaining to, or caused by disease-producing germs.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English < Middle French germe < Latin germen shoot, sprout, by dissimilation from *genmen, equivalent to gen- (see genitor, genus) + -men resultative noun suffix)
Related forms
germless, adjective
germlike, adjective
Synonyms
4. spark, root, bud, rudiment, seed.
Examples from the web for germ
  • Infectious disease used to be a simple matter: this germ causes that illness.
  • These nano-sized sensors would float around the bloodstream until they ran into some toxic chemical or disease-causing germ.
  • The comets fall and the germ of another planets to do rest.
  • Shooting lasers at the sky can make the germ of a rain cloud, a new study shows.
  • Without treatment, this staph germ can be fatal unless killed with drugs.
  • They protect you if the same kind of germ comes back.
  • The ensuing grumbling about the unreliability of polls sparked the germ of an idea.
  • The germ of open political debate, if not of unfettered democracy, is in the air.
  • Rejection is a process in which the body's immune system attacks transplanted tissue as though it were an invading germ.
  • In fact, that first germ of an interactive idea actually predates television itself.
British Dictionary definitions for germ

germ

/dʒɜːm/
noun
1.
a microorganism, esp one that produces disease in animals or plants
2.
(often pl) the rudimentary or initial form of something: the germs of revolution
3.
a simple structure, such as a fertilized egg, that is capable of developing into a complete organism
Word Origin
C17: from French germe, from Latin germen sprig, bud, sprout, seed
Word Origin and History for 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) "sprout, bud," perhaps from PIE root *gen- "to beget, bear" (see genus). The older sense is preserved in wheat germ and germ of an idea; sense of "seed of a disease" first recorded 1803; that of "harmful microorganism" dates from 1871. Germ warfare recorded from 1920.

germ in Medicine

germ (jûrm)
n.

  1. A small mass of protoplasm or cells from which a new organism or one of its parts may develop.

  2. A microorganism, especially a pathogen.

germ in Science
germ
  (jûrm)   
A microscopic organism or agent, especially one that is pathogenic, such as a bacterium or virus.

Our Living Language  : The terms germ and microbe have been used to refer to invisible agents of disease since the nineteenth century, when scientists introduced the germ theory of disease, the idea that infections and contagious diseases are caused by microorganisms. Microbe, a shortening and alteration of microorganism, comes from the Greek prefix mikro-, "small," and the word bios, "life." Scientists no longer use the terms germ and microbe very much. Today they can usually identify the specific agents of disease, such as individual species of bacteria or viruses. To refer generally to agents of disease, they use the term pathogen, from the Greek pathos, "suffering," and the suffix -gen, "producer." They use microorganism to refer to any unicellular organism, whether disease-causing or not.