Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.
Source: tatoeba (1785920)
Germ
//d͡ʒɜːm//
Synonyms for "germ" (91 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (19)
Strong matches (27)
Related words (45)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
8 entriesSynonyms
2 entriesRelated terms
9 entriesat location
1 entriescapable of
1 entriescauses
1 entriescoordinate
1 entriesderived
38 entriesShowing 16 of 38 words.
etymologically related_to
1 entrieshas context
5 entriesis a
2 entriesrelated to
48 entriesShowing 16 of 48 words.
Translations
131 translations across 46 languages.
Arabic
3 entries- جرثومة noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- جُرْثُومَة noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- رُشَيْم noun (mass of cells)
Assamese
1 entries- বীজাণু noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Asturian
1 entries- xerme noun (embryo of a seed)
Belarusian
4 entries- за́вязь noun (embryo of a seed)
- заро́дак noun (mass of cells)
- мікро́б noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- эмбрыён noun (mass of cells)
Bulgarian
3 entries- ембрио́н noun (mass of cells)
- заро́диш noun (mass of cells)
- микро́б noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Burmese
2 entries- ပိုး noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- မျိုး noun (mass of cells)
Catalan
4 entries- germen noun (mass of cells)
- germen noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- germen noun (idea)
- germen noun (embryo of a seed)
Chinese Mandarin
2 entries- 細菌 /细菌 noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- 菌 noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Czech
4 entries- bakterie noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- choroboplodný zárodek noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- mikrob noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- počátek noun (idea)
Dutch
3 entries- kiem noun (mass of cells)
- kiem noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- kiem noun (idea)
Esperanto
2 entries- mikrobo noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ĝermo noun (mass of cells)
Finnish
4 entries- alkio noun (embryo of a seed)
- itiö noun (mass of cells)
- mikrobi noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- siemen noun (idea)
French
3 entries- germe noun (mass of cells)
- germe noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- germe noun (idea)
Galician
4 entries- xerme noun (mass of cells)
- xerme noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- xerme noun (idea)
- xerme noun (embryo of a seed)
Georgian
4 entries- ბუტკო noun (embryo of a seed)
- ემბრიონი noun (mass of cells)
- მიკრობი noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ჩანასახი noun (mass of cells)
German
2 entries- Keim noun (mass of cells)
- Keim noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Greek
2 entries- μικρόβιο noun (mass of cells)
- μικρόβιο noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Hindi
3 entries- कीटाणु noun (mass of cells)
- रोगाणु noun (mass of cells)
- रोगाणु noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Hungarian
4 entries- csíra noun (mass of cells)
- csíra noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- csíra noun (idea)
- kórokozó noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Icelandic
1 entries- sýkill noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Indonesian
2 entries- kuman noun (mass of cells)
- kuman noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Italian
3 entries- germe noun (mass of cells)
- germe noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- microbo noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Japanese
3 entries- 細菌 noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- 胚芽 noun (mass of cells)
- 芽生え noun (idea)
Kannada
1 entries- ರೋಗಾಣು noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Khmer
3 entries- ក្រមី noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ជីវាណូ noun (mass of cells)
- ពីជៈ noun (mass of cells)
Korean
2 entries- 배아 noun (mass of cells)
- 세균 noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Lao
4 entries- ຕົວພະຍາດ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ເຊື້ອ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ເຊື້ອໂລກ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- ແມ່ພະຍາດ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- Keim noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Malay
1 entries- kuman noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Mongolian
1 entries- нян noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Māori
2 entries- kitakita noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- moroiti tahumaero noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Nepali
1 entries- किटाणु noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Persian
1 entries- جرم noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Polish
4 entries- bakcyl noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- mikrob noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- zalążek noun (idea)
- zarazek noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Portuguese
4 entries- germe noun (mass of cells)
- germe noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- germe noun (idea)
- germe noun (embryo of a seed)
Romanian
4 entries- cauză noun (idea)
- embrion noun (embryo of a seed)
- germen noun (mass of cells)
- germen noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Russian
4 entries- за́вязь noun (embryo of a seed)
- заро́дыш noun (mass of cells)
- зача́ток noun (mass of cells)
- зача́ток noun (idea)
Slovak
1 entries- klíček noun (mass of cells)
Spanish
3 entries- germen noun (mass of cells)
- germen noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- germen noun (embryo of a seed)
Swahili
1 entries- kijidudu noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Swedish
3 entries- frö noun (idea)
- mikrob noun (mass of cells)
- mikrob noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Tagalog
3 entries- binhay noun (mass of cells)
- kagaw noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- mikrobyo noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Thai
2 entries- เชื้อ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
- เชื้อโรค noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Tibetan
1 entries- ནད་འབུ noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Ukrainian
4 entries- ембріо́н noun (mass of cells)
- за́в'язь noun (embryo of a seed)
- заро́док noun (mass of cells)
- зача́ток noun (mass of cells)
Vietnamese
4 entries- mầm noun (mass of cells)
- mầm noun (embryo of a seed)
- mộng noun (mass of cells)
- vi khuẩn noun (pathogenic microorganism)
Sample sentences
17 total sentences available.
The patient gets a weakened version of the germ, which triggers the body's immune system to produce antibodies.
Source: tatoeba (8663628)
Antibodies work by attaching themselves to an invading germ.
Source: tatoeba (8855549)
I must not stay to notice the strange fortunes of all the many other quasi-human worlds. I will mention only that in some, though civilization was destroyed in a succession of savage wars, the germ of recovery precariously survived. In one, the agonizing balance of the old and the new seemed to prolong itself indefinitely. In another, where science had advanced too far for the safety of an immature species, man accidentally blew up his planet and his race. In several, the dialectical process of history was broken short by invasion and conquest on the part of inhabitants of another planet. These and other disaster, to be described in due course, decimated the galactic population of worlds.
Source: tatoeba (8877545)
Showing 4 of 17 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.