Definition

1. Noun:
   • Germ / seed: The most basic meaning refers to the very beginning stage of a plant's life; a sprout or a seed. Figuratively, it means the earliest, most fundamental origin or starting point of something, often something that will develop or grow.
   • Root cause / origin: The initial element or factor from which something, typically something negative or significant, originates and develops.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Hạt giống là mầm mống của sự sống. (The seed is the germ of life.)
  • Sự hiểu lầm nhỏ đó là mầm mống của mọi xung đột sau này. (That small misunderstanding was the seed of all subsequent conflicts.)
  • Cần phải tiêu diệt mầm mống dịch bệnh từ khi chưa bùng phát. (We must destroy the germ of the epidemic before it breaks out.)

Advanced Usage

• Used abstractly to describe the nascent, often hidden, beginning of abstract concepts like ideologies, conflicts, or movements.
  • Những tư tưởng đó chính là mầm mống của một cuộc cách mạng. (Those ideas were precisely the embryo of a revolution.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mầm (n): sprout, bud, germ. Often used interchangeably with "mầm mống" but can be more concrete (e.g., bean sprout).
• Nguyên nhân (n): cause, reason. A more general and neutral term for cause, lacking the "nascent beginning" nuance of "mầm mống".
• Nguồn gốc (n): origin, source. Refers to the point of origin, which may be more established than a "mầm mống".

Synonyms

• Germ: a microorganism or the beginning stage of an idea.
• Seed: the unit of reproduction or the starting point for growth.
• Embryo: an early stage of development.
• Origin: the point where something begins.
• Root cause: the fundamental reason.

Related Idioms

• Mầm mống tai họa: the seed of disaster.
  • Lòng tham là mầm mống tai họa. (Greed is the seed of disaster.)