n. 1 micro-organism, microbe, bacterium, virus, Colloq bug Germs were not conceived of before Leeuwenhoek's invention of the microscope 2 source, origin, fount, embryo, seed, root, rudiment, beginning, start, base, basis The germ of romantic literature lies in folk-tales
GERM
Meaning of GERM in English
Oxford thesaurus English vocab. Английский словарь Оксфорд тезаурус. 2012