Xenograft

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈzɛnəʊɡɹæft/

Definitions

1. A medical technique that entails the transfer of tissue from one species to another for therapeutic applications involves organ and skin grafting in humans and animals
2. A procedure involving the transplantation of biological tissue from one species into another, commonly used in medical treatments and research applications
3. This technique refers to the surgical process in which tissue is taken from a donor of a different species and implanted into a recipient for healing or research purposes

Etymology: "Xenograft" is a modern technical coinage, built from the Greek prefix "xeno-" and the English word "graft." The Greek "xénos" originally meant "stranger," "guest" or "foreigner," a sense that carried over into the idea of something foreign or from another kind. The prefix therefore marks the grafted tissue as coming from a different species, while "graft" keeps its older English sense of a piece of living tissue joined onto a body. Ancient Greeks had no word for this practice, so the term should not be read as classical. It was assembled in modern scientific English from classical building blocks, the same way many medical and biological terms were formed. The "xéno-" element in English compounds generally signals "foreign" or "of another kind," and it appears in words such as "xenophobia," which likewise combines the Greek "xénos" with a second element.