germinate

C2+ Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /ˈdʒɜrmɪneɪt/ UK /ˈdʒɜːmɪneɪt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to begin to grow or sprout, as a seed; to develop

The seeds will germinate within a week if kept warm and moist.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to begin to grow or sprout,... sprout bud shoot develop grow burgeon

Opposites

wither wilt die

Word family

Derived forms germinatedgerminatinggerminationgerminatorgerminative

Related forms germ germinal

Etymology

From Latin germinare ('to sprout, bud'), from germen ('sprout, bud, seed').

germinare Latin germen Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Plants & Agriculture Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# germinate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈdʒɜrmɪneɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdʒɜːmɪneɪt/

## Meanings
1. to begin to grow or sprout, as a seed; to develop

## Examples
- The seeds will germinate within a week if kept warm and moist.

## Synonyms
- sprout
- bud
- shoot
- develop
- grow
- burgeon

## Antonyms
- wither
- wilt
- die

## Derived Forms
- germinated
- germinating
- germination
- germinator
- germinative

## Related Forms
- germ
- germinal

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: germinare
- Root: germen

## Etymology
From Latin germinare ('to sprout, bud'), from germen ('sprout, bud, seed').

## AI Etymology
Germinate comes from Latin germinare ('to sprout, bud'), from germen ('sprout, bud, seed'). The etymological trail includes Latin germinare and Latin germen. As a verb, germinate means to begin to grow or sprout, as a seed; to develop. The same family is visible in derived forms such as germinated, germinating, germination, germinator, and germinative and related forms such as germ and germinal.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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