Germ may refer to:
- Microorganism, especially a pathogen; see Germ theory of disease
- Germ cell, an ovum or sperm, or one of its progenitors
- The Germ (periodical), a periodical established by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to disseminate their ideas
- Germ (mathematics), an object in a topological space that captures local properties
- Cereal germ, the reproductive part of a cereal grain
- Germ, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune of the Hautes-Pyrénées département in southwestern France
Germs may refer to:
- Germs (band), an American punk rock band (1976-1980, 2005—present)
- The Germs (comics), a comic strip in the magazine The Beano
- Germs (Invader Zim), an episode of Invader Zim
- "Germs" (song), a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Famous quotes containing the word germ:
“He represents the privilege of the intellect, the power, namely, of carrying up every fact to successive platforms, and so disclosing, in every fact, a germ of explanation.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“And such the trust that still were mine,
Though stormy winds swept o’er the brine,
Or though the tempest’s fiery breath
Roused me from sleep to wreck and death.
In ocean cave, still safe with Thee
The germ of immortality!
And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,
Rocked in the cradle of the deep.”
—Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870)
“The germ of violence is laid bare in the child abuser by the sheer accident of his individual experience ... in a word, to a greater degree than we like to admit, we are all potential child abusers.”
—F. Gonzalez-Crussi, Mexican professor of pathology, author. “Reflections on Child Abuse,” Notes of an Anatomist (1985)