germ

/ʤərm/

anything that provides inspiration for later work

中文释义：萌芽；起源

The germ of the idea for the novel came from a dream the author had.

这部小说的想法萌芽来自作者的一个梦。

His early experiments contained the germ of a revolutionary theory in physics.

他的早期实验包含了物理学中一个革命性理论的萌芽。