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Added 9 October 2026

graft

/ɡɹɑːft/ noun

In Latin: clāvula Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about graft at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

(surgery) tissue or organ transplanted from a donor to a recipient; in some cases the patient can be both donor and recipient.
The practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage.
The act of grafting something onto something else.

verb

Cause to grow together parts from different plants.
graft the cherry tree branch onto the plum tree
Place the organ of a donor into the body of a recipient.

Origin

From Middle English graffe, from Old French greffe (“stylus”), from Latin graphium (“stylus”), from Ancient Greek γραφείον (grapheíon), from γράφειν (gráphein, “to write”); probably akin to English carve. So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil. Doublet of graphium. Compare graphic, grammar.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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