germane








adjective

  1. closely or significantly related; relevant; pertinent: Please keep your statements germane to the issue.
  2. Obsolete. closely related.

adjective

  1. (postpositive usually foll by to) related (to the topic being considered); akin; relevantan idea germane to the conversation
adj.

mid-14c., “having the same parents,” derived from german (adj.); cf. human/humane, urban/urbane. Main modern sense of “closely connected, relevant” (c.1600) derives from use in “Hamlet” Act V, Scene ii: “The phrase would bee more Germaine to the matter: If we could carry Cannon by our sides,” which is a figurative use of the word in the now-obsolete sense of “closely related, akin” (late 15c.) in reference to things, not persons.

54 queries 0.590