germ Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun anything that provides inspiration for later work
source; seed.
noun a small apparently simple structure (as a fertilized egg) from which new tissue can develop into a complete organism
noun a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
microbe; bug.

F. germe, fr. L. germen, germinis, sprout, but, germ. Cf. Germen, Germane.

(Biol.) That which is to develop a new individual; as, the germ of a fetus, of a plant or flower, and the like; the earliest form under which an organism appears.
In the entire process in which a new being originates . . . two distinct classes of action participate; namely, the act of generation by which the germ is produced; and the act of development, by which that germ is evolved into the complete organism. Carpenter.
That from which anything springs; origin; first principle; as, the germ of civil liberty.