ailment vs germ

ailment

noun
  • Something which ails one; a disease; sickness. 

germ

noun
  • A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus. 

  • The origin or earliest version of an idea or project. 

  • The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud. 

  • The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ. 

  • An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood. 

verb
  • To germinate. 

  • To grow, as if parasitic. 

How often have the words ailment and germ occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )