Graft

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Graft

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

noun and verb

Pronunciation

grahft  /ɡrɑːft/

Definition

As a noun: a shoot or twig inserted into a slit of a stock plant to grow there; a piece of tissue transplanted surgically; (British informal) hard work; (informal) corruption, especially bribery involving a politician or official. As a verb: to insert as a graft; to work hard; to transplant surgically.

Plain meaning

Graft has three main meanings: in horticulture, it is inserting a cutting into another plant to grow together; in surgery, it is transplanting tissue; in British informal English, graft means hard work; and in American English, graft means corrupt use of position for financial gain.

Register

The plant and surgical senses are technical and neutral. The hard work sense is British informal — he puts in the graft. The corruption sense is journalistic and political in both British and American usage. The coexistence of the hard work and corruption senses in one word is one of English's more interesting lexical accidents.