Etymologically
Log in

donor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 15:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdəʊ.nə/, US /ˈdoʊ.nɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English donour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman donour and Old French doneur (modern French donneur),[2][3][4][5] from Latin dōnātor (“giver”),[2][3][4] an agent noun from dōnō (“to give as a gift”) (see donation), from dōnum (“gift”),[3] from Proto-Indo-European *do- (“to give”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who gives or makes a grant: about 1439 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline, 1494 in the OED, especially in law.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

A person from whom blood is taken for transfusion is a donor by 1875 in Etymonline, 1910 in the OED.[3][6] Donors of organs and tissues for transplanting, living or dead, are recorded by 1918, at first of guinea pigs.[3][6] In artificial insemination it is from 1947,[6] and the donor card, at first American, from 1964.[6] In physics a donor is an impurity atom in a semiconductor (1927).[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1439 – a giver.[2]
  • 1875 – a blood donor.[3]
  • 1918 – an organ donor.[3][6]
  • 1927 – a donor atom (semiconductor).[6]
  • 1964 – donor card.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who gives something, such as money, to a cause or fund.
  2. A person from whom blood, tissue or an organ is taken for transfusion or transplant.
  3. (law) A person who makes a gift of property.
  4. (chemistry) The atom that supplies both electrons in a coordinate bond.
  5. (electronics) An impurity added to a semiconductor to increase the number of free electrons.

Word family

  • donorship
  • donator
  • donor card
  • universal donor

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press