graft

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To join part of one plant onto another so they grow together as one.

   The gardener grafted a branch from the cherry tree onto the plum tree.

2. 2
   noun

   A piece of skin, tissue, or organ taken from one body or part and attached to another (in surgery).

   The burn victim needed a skin graft to help the wound heal.

3. 3
   noun

   The dishonest use of a position of power to gain money or advantage; corruption.

   The official was jailed for accepting graft from local builders.

4. 4
   noun

   Hard work that takes a lot of effort (British, informal).

   It took years of hard graft to build the business.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Graft, originally spelled graff, comes from Greek graphion, “a stylus” or “pointed writing implement,” from graphein, “to write”; the tapered plant shoot was likened to a stylus. The unrelated 19th-century graft meaning “hard work” may derive from the phrase spade’s graft and Old Norse groftr, “digging.” The later American sense “bribery” may be connected with that use, but its precise origin is unknown.

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.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary