germ vs virus

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. 

virus

noun
  • A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness. 

  • Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another. 

  • A quantity of such infectious agents 

  • Any type of malware. 

  • A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus. 

  • A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms. 

verb
  • To send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus. 

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