Implanter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tool or instrument used to insert an object such as a seed, chip, or medical device into the body or into a material ; a surgeon or dental practitioner who places an implant in a patient
2. An apparatus designed for embedding something into tissue or another substance ; a practitioner who fits prosthetic or medical implants into a person's body
3. A device that places a foreign object or element into a host body or material ; someone who carries out the procedure of setting an implant into living tissue

Etymology: Implanter is about as plain as English word-building gets: the verb "implant" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so it names a person or thing that implants. The verb itself comes from the Latin "implantare," meaning to plant or graft into, built from "in-" (into) and "plantare" (to plant), from "planta," a sprout or cutting. The suffix "-er" has been attached to English verbs since Old English to name the one who performs an action, so the word needed no special coinage. The more interesting shift is that "implant" moved from the garden to the body and the laboratory. Its original sense was literal planting, and the extended senses of fixing something firmly into a surface or into the mind came later. Today the word is most often applied to surgeons and devices, and to whoever or whatever inserts a medical or electronic component, though the older sense of a person who instills ideas or attitudes still fits its structure.

Synonyms: inserter, embedder

Antonyms: extractor, remover