Dictionary.com

Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 3, 2001

germane \juhr-MAYN\, adjective:
Appropriate or fitting; relevant.

The issue is not germane to the present discussion.
-- Richard Wollheim, On the Emotions

As long as the argument remains germane, he listens attentively, putting on and removing heavy tortoise-shell glasses and leaning across the bench.
-- Philip Hamburger, Matters of State

In times of catastrophe we allow public officials to declare "states of emergency" that replace some normal rules . . . with a more germane set.
-- Seth Shulman, "Owning the Future: In Africa, Patents Kill", Technology Review, April 2001

I have many secrets, most of which are not at all germane to the topic . . . and would probably be completely inappropriate to tell.
-- David Gewirtz, "I Have a Secret", PalmPower Magazine, August 2000

Germane comes from Middle English germain, literally, "having the same parents," ultimately deriving from Latin germanus, from germen, "a bud, a shoot."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for germane

 

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