Etymology A variant form of german (“having the same parents; related”), adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet (see quotations at germaine).
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Related to a topic of discussion or consideration.
1924, W. D. Ross., translator, Aristotle, Metaphysics. Nashotah, Wisconsin, USA: The Classical Library, 2001, Book 1, Part 5. Yet this much is germane to the present inquiry:
Connors was addicted to this racquet and kept using it even after Wilson stopped making it, forfeiting millions in potential endorsement money by doing so. Connors was eccentric (and kind of repulsive) in lots of other ways, too, none of which are germane to this article.1997, David Foster Wallace, “Tennis Player Michael Joyce’s Professional Artistry as a Paradigm of Certain Stuff About Choice, Freedom, Limitation, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:
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Valentine’s Day means different things for different people. [...] Most germane to the episode, for Lisa, Valentine’s Day means being the only person in her entire class to give Ralph a Valentine after noticing him looking crestfallen and alone at his desk.2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
Partway through our call, Horowitz excuses himself to answer the door for a package. The parcel that arrives is, in fact, germane to our conversation: a copy of Stay Alive: Berlin 1939-1945 by Ian Baruma.2026 June 21, Annabel Nugent, “The authors who admit to using AI: ‘I have absolutely no shame about it’”, in The Independent: