Transplantations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of transferring an organ, tissue, or cell from one body to another for medical purposes; the process of reestablishing or relocating a living substance to a new site in an organism; a medical procedure involving the introduction of healthy cells or tissues into a donor site to restore function or health
2. The surgical operation of moving an organ or tissue from a donor to a recipient to treat medical conditions; the relocation of biological materials within an organism to enhance health; a method employed in regenerative medicine to replace damaged or diseased tissues
3. A procedure involving the removal and placement of biological material, typically to treat illness; the transfer of living cells or tissues from one location to another in the body; a critical intervention aimed at restoring health through surgical means

Etymology: Latin "planta" originally meant the sole of the foot. Gardeners' "plant" comes from the act of pressing a cutting or seedling into the soil with the foot. Adding "trans-," meaning "across" or "from one place to another," gave the Latin verb "transplantare," to move a growing thing from one spot to another. English took the verb "transplant" from Latin and formed the noun "transplantation" by adding the suffix "-ation," which turns an action into a process or its result. The plural "transplantations" counts separate instances of that process. Medicine kept the garden image: moving living tissue from one place in the body to another is the same basic act as moving a seedling between beds, with far higher stakes.

Synonyms: grafts, relocations