What does transfused mean?
Transfused is the past tense and past participle of transfuse, meaning transferred from one person or container to another. Its dominant modern use is medical: a patient who has received blood or another blood product has been transfused. The word also has a figurative use meaning imbued or communicated with a quality or feeling, as in a community being transfused with hope. A transfusion differs from an infusion in that transfusion specifically denotes the transfer of blood or blood products, while infusion more broadly describes introducing another liquid, such as saline, medication, or nutrients. Transfused is useful because it concisely records an action already completed without requiring a separate form of the verb, yet its precise medical and metaphorical associations remain clear from context.
Transferred blood or another liquid from one person or container to another; communicated or imbued with a quality, feeling, or influence.
"The hospital transfused two units of packed red blood cells into the patient."
The medical use is dominant. The figurative use generally appears in formal or literary writing.
Having undergone a transfusion, especially having received blood or blood products.
"After the operation, the transfused patient was moved to intensive care."
This attributive use is less common than the participial construction "was transfused."
The word can describe not only blood entering a body but hope or excitement flowing through a crowd.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does transfused come from?
Transfused comes from Latin transfundere, formed from trans-, meaning "across," and fundere, meaning "pour." The literal sense was "pour across" or "pour out," and the word acquired its medical meaning through the practice of transferring blood from one person to another. Related English words such as diffuse, effuse, infuse, and profuse ultimately derive from combinations of Latin prefixes with fundere.
Related word forms
How transfused is actually used
The word is most common in medical and formal contexts. As a participle, it may appear in constructions such as "was transfused" or before a noun, as in "transfused patient." Its figurative use is established but is more literary and less frequent.
Easily confused with transfused
A transfusion specifically involves transferring blood or blood products to a recipient, whereas an infusion broadly involves introducing a fluid such as saline, medication, or nutrients.