Wordwyrt

germ

/ˈdʒɜːm/JURM
/ˈdʒɝm/JURM

Meaninga sprout

Common meaning: a seed of growth

Other meanings: a microbe

Journey through time

  1. Latingermen, -inis‘a sprout, offshoot’
  2. Frenchgermesource
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsa sprout, offshoot → a seed of growthgerm‘a seed of growth’ · today

germ also in: germinate

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin germen ‘a sprout, offshoot’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry germen, p. 811 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

germinate

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