Etymology From Middle French germe, from Latin germen (“bud, seed, embryo”). Doublet of germen.
› The small mass of cells from which a new…
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Biology, Natural sciences The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
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Biology, Natural sciences 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
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A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'1895, H. G. Wells, The Stolen Bacillus:
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Figuratively The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
the germ of civil liberty
Now all his ponderings, however excursive, wheeled round Isabel as their center; and back to her they came again from every excursion; and again derived some new, small germs for wonderment.1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
1 more example
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.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:
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Mathematics, Sciences An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.