Word of the Day

: July 1, 2014

germane

adjective jer-MAYN

What It Means

: being at once relevant and appropriate : fitting

germane in Context

While his comments were witty and entertaining, they weren't particularly germane to the overall discussion.

"They contend the Senate did not merely 'amend' the original House bill because the health care reform amendment was not germane to the original bill." - The New York Times, May 19, 2014

Did You Know?

"Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion." So wrote Shakespeare in Timon of Athens (circa 1607), using an old (and now obsolete) sense of "germane" meaning "closely akin." "Germane" derives from the Latin word "germen," meaning "bud" or "sprout," which is also at the root of our verb "germinate," meaning "to sprout" or "begin to develop." An early sense of "germane" referred specifically to children of the same parents, who were perhaps seen as being like buds on a single tree.