Noun
germ (plural germs)
- (biology) 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.
- (biology) The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
- Coordinate term: vesicle
- Derived terms: germectomy
surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth
- A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
1895, H. G. Wells, The Stolen Bacillus:'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'
- (figurative) The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
- the germ of civil liberty
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194:What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth? - the dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.
- (mathematics) An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.
Translations
mass of cells
- Arabic: رُشَيْم m (rušaym)
- Belarusian: заро́дак (be) m (zaródak), эмбрыён m (embryjón)
- Bulgarian: ембрио́н (bg) m (embrión), заро́диш (bg) m (zaródiš)
- Burmese: မျိုး (my) (myui:)
- Catalan: germen (ca) m
- Dutch: kiem (nl) m
- Esperanto: ĝermo (eo)
- Finnish: itiö (fi)
- French: germe (fr) m
- Galician: xerme m
- Georgian: ჩანასახი (čanasaxi), ემბრიონი (embrioni)
- German: Keim (de) m
- Greek: μικρόβιο (el) n (mikróvio)
- Hungarian: csíra (hu)
- Indonesian: kuman (id)
- Italian: germe (it) m
- Japanese: 胚芽 (ja) (はいが, haiga)
- Khmer: ជីវាណូ (ciivaanou), ពីជៈ (piicĕəʼ)
- Korean: 배아(胚芽) (ko) (baea)
- Portuguese: germe (pt) m
- Romanian: microb (ro) m, germen (ro) m
- Russian: заро́дыш (ru) m (zaródyš), зача́ток (ru) m (začátok), эмбрио́н (ru) m (embrión)
- Slovak: klíček m
- Spanish: germen (es) m
- Swedish: mikrob (sv) c
- Tagalog: binhay
- Ukrainian: заро́док m (zaródok), ембріо́н m (embrión), зача́ток m (začátok)
- Vietnamese: mộng (vi), mầm (vi)
|
pathogenic microorganism
- Arabic: جُرْثُومَة (ar) f (jurṯūma)
- Hijazi Arabic: جرثومة f (jarṯūma, jurṯūma)
- Assamese: বীজাণু (bizanu)
- Belarusian: мікро́б m (mikrób)
- Bulgarian: микро́б (bg) m (mikrób)
- Burmese: ပိုး (my) (pui:)
- Catalan: germen (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 細菌/细菌 (zh) (xìjūn), 菌 (zh) (jūn)
- Dutch: kiem (nl) m
- Esperanto: mikrobo
- Finnish: mikrobi (fi)
- French: germe (fr) m
- Galician: xerme m
- Georgian: მიკრობი (ka) (miḳrobi)
- German: Keim (de) m
- Greek: μικρόβιο (el) n (mikróvio)
- Hindi: रोगाणु m (rogāṇu)
- Hungarian: csíra (hu), kórokozó (hu)
- Icelandic: sýkill (is) m
- Italian: microbo (it) m, germe (it) m
- Japanese: 細菌 (ja) (さいきん, saikin)
- Kannada: ರೋಗಾಣು (kn) (rōgāṇu)
- Khmer: ក្រមី (km) (krɑməy)
- Korean: 세균(細菌) (ko) (segyun)
- Lao: ເຊື້ອ (sư̄a), ຕົວພະຍາດ (tūa pha nyāt), ແມ່ພະຍາດ (mǣ pha nyāt), ເຊື້ອໂລກ (sư̄a lōk)
- Luxembourgish: Keim m
- Malay: kuman (ms)
- Maori: kitakita, moroiti tahumaero
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: нян (mn) (njan)
- Nepali: किटाणु (ne) (kiṭāṇu)
- Persian: جرم (fa) (jerm)
- Polish: zarazek (pl) m, mikrob (pl) m, bakcyl (pl) m
- Portuguese: germe (pt) m
- Romanian: germen (ro) m, microb (ro) m
- Russian: микро́б (ru) m (mikrób)
- Spanish: germen (es) m
- Swedish: mikrob (sv) c
- Tagalog: mikrobyo, kagaw
- Thai: เชื้อ (th) (chʉ́ʉa), เชื้อโรค (th) (chʉ́ʉa-rôok)
- Tibetan: ནད་འབུ (nad 'bu)
- Ukrainian: мікро́б m (mikrób)
- Vietnamese: vi khuẩn (vi) (微菌), vi trùng (vi) (微蟲)
|
Translations to be checked
Verb
germ (third-person singular simple present germs, present participle germing, simple past and past participle germed)
- To germinate.
1909, Thomas Hardy, The Flirt's Tragedy:Thus tempted, the lust to avenge me / Germed inly and grew.
- (slang) To grow, as if parasitic.
Further reading
- “germ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “germ”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.