Twice this week at a nursing regulatory conference I have heard a speaker use the word "germanic." I should have jotted down the context, but instead I decided I'd look the word up when I got back to my room. Of course I was familiar with the meaning related to "German," but I thought there was a more general meaning. I couldn't find a thing, either in dictionary.com or the OED. The speakers were not talking about Germany for sure. Any idea what another meaning of "germanic" might be?

It can mean "of or containing germanium, especially in the tetravalent state"; see Dictionary.com.

Without the context it's not really possible to tell, but could it have been germane you heard?

Maybe they think it's a synonym for pathogenic? That is, related to germs?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Geoff,

quote:

Without the context it's not really possible to tell, but could it have been germane you heard?

I know, arnie, so this probably was a probably a useless thread. I should have written down the contexts. The first time I just thought I'd heard it wrong. But when it happened again, I wondered.

I am certain the word was germanic, and not germane. There was no discussion of tetravalent states. Oh well.