What does transplant mean?
Transplant has a clear central idea: something taken from one place or person and established elsewhere. In medicine, it names the transfer of an organ or tissue from a donor to a recipient, as well as the operation and sometimes the transplanted material itself. The verb transplant can likewise describe the surgical procedure. Gardeners use it for moving a young plant from one site to another, where it will continue growing. The word also has a figurative use for relocating a person, community, or institution, often with the implication that the move is abrupt, distant, or disruptive. These contexts share a sense of deliberate relocation rather than ordinary local movement. Transplant is especially useful because it connects gardening, medicine, and social description. Its literal medical sense may also cause unease, since in conversation “transplant” can refer to the procedure, the donated organ, or the recipient. The word remains standard and widely understood in both British and American English.
An organ, tissue, plant, or other material transferred to a new body or location; also the procedure or process of making such a transfer.
"The transplant was carried out by a specialist surgical team."
In medicine, the noun may refer to the operation, the transplanted material, or occasionally a recipient who has undergone an organ transplant.
To transfer an organ or tissue between bodies, move a plant to another site, or figuratively relocate a person or group.
"The hospital will transplant a healthy kidney into the patient."
The medical and gardening senses are literal; figurative uses generally imply movement to a quite different environment.
The plural can refer to multiple organs, recipients, plants, or transplant operations and is commonly used in medical and news contexts.
"The hospital performed three transplants last month."
The word hides a garden metaphor: to transplant a heart is, etymologically, to “plant” it in a new body.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does transplant come from?
Transplant comes from Latin transplantare, formed from trans- (“across”) and plantare (“to plant”). English use developed from the sense of moving a plant to another place, and the word was later extended to the transplantation of tissues and organs between bodies. Plant, plantation, plantable, and plantlet belong to the same wider Latin plant family.
Related word forms
How transplant is actually used
Medical usage is standard in both British and American English. In figurative use, transplant often suggests an abrupt or disruptive relocation, so transplanting a family can sound more dismissive than relocating or resettling it.
Easily confused with transplant
A transplant is a transfer into a new body or site, whereas transport is the general act of carrying someone or something from one place to another.