Sunday Word: Germinant

[sallymn]

germinant [jur-muh-nuhnt]

adjective:
germinating or having the capacity to grow or develop

Examples:

Forest managers traditionally use seeding on suitable sites as an alternative to planting. The primary advantages over planting are reduced treatment costs and improved root system development. The main disadvantages include seed predation, drought associated germinant mortality, a need for a large quantity of viable seed, and a perception that intensive site preparation is required to expose mineral soil. (Michael Bendzsak, Saskatchewan Report: Aerial Broadcast Seeding of Jack Pine on Xeric Sites in Saskatchewan, Silviculture, Summer 2013)

As the oak is germinant in the acorn, so society is germinant in the family. Historically, the family is the first organization; biologically it is the origin of all other organizations. ( Kerry Howley, The Sentimental Origins of the Male Explanatory Reflex, Slate, November 2002)

We also know that the suckiness could get much worse (and much more germinant) if he forces Andrew Luck to return from injury before he's ready. (Why Your Quarterback Sucks: Ranking All 32 NFL Starters From Worst to Worst, Hero Sports, August 2017)

But the restrictions on individual licence which are due to respect for a known and friendly power allied to man, however trivial and absurd* they may appear to us in their details, contain within them germinant principles of social progress and moral order. (William Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites)

She might have rebelled, had it not been for that germinant idea of hers. (Henry Kitchell Webster, The Real Adventure)

Origin:

Germinant, 'beginning to grow or develop,' comes from the Latin verb germināre, 'to bud, sprout,' which comes from the noun germen, 'shoot, sprout.' Germen is also the source of germ, which originally referred to a bud or seed and later came to refer to microorganisms as well. Despite the similar spelling, germen is not related to the name of the country Germany, which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Germinant was first recorded in English around the year 1600. (Dictionary.com)