• n. [植] 胚芽，萌芽；細(xì)菌
• vi. 萌芽

來自拉丁語germen, 來自詞根gen, 生育，萌芽，詞源同generate. 字母n在m前r 化，比較carcinogen, 來自cancer. 后用于科學(xué)術(shù)語，細(xì)菌。

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.

1. The germ of an idea took root in Rosemary's mind.

羅斯瑪麗心里萌生了一個(gè)念頭。

來自柯林斯例句

2. This germ is found on things used by the patients.

這種細(xì)菌附著在病人使用過的東西上.

來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》

3. I have the germ of an idea.

我有一個(gè)初步的想法.

來自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》

4. " Me thought the germ of it was dead in me!

“ 我還以為喜悅的胚胎已經(jīng)在我心中死掉了呢!

來自英漢文學(xué) - 紅字

5. This was the germ of a book.

這是一本書的源起。

來自辭典例句