germ
The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
Other meanings
The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
Related words
- antigerm
- apical germ pore
- degerm
- germband
- germ cell
- germ-free
- germicidal
- germicide
- germ layer
- germless
- germlike
- germline
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "germen" (bud, seed, embryo).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “germ” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.