implantation

Etymology

It is borrowed from French implantation,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the noun of action of implanter (“to insert, engraft”),^[2][3] which is formed from im- and planter (“to plant”).^[2][3] Dictionary.com analyses it as implant and -ation.^[7] For the English verb, the American Heritage Dictionary gives Medieval Latin implantō, from Latin in- (“in”) and plantō (“to plant”), from planta (“a shoot”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In anatomy, the insertion of an organ or muscle, especially its manner and place: 1578, in John Banister's Historie of Man.^[2][9] Etymonline glosses the first use as the manner of being implanted.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1600 the word meant the action of planting or setting something in the ground, also figuratively, first in Hooker.^[2][3] In the 17th century it was used for the instilling of a principle or idea in the mind (1653, Henry More) and for engrafting, including the theological engrafting into Christ (1640–1702).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of setting or planting, and in 1773 added the act of fixing or settling.^[10] The modern technical senses came in the late 19th and 20th centuries: the surgical operation of implanting something in the body (1885), the attachment of the fertilized egg to the wall of the uterus in embryology (1902) and, in physics, the introduction of ions into a crystal by an ion beam (1965).^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1578 – anatomy, the insertion of an organ or muscle.^[2][9]
• before 1600 – the action of planting in the ground, also figurative.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "act of implanting" to about 1600.^[3]
• 1640 – theology, engrafting into Christ (obsolete by 1702).^[2]
• 1653 – the fixing of a principle or idea in the mind.^[2]
• 1654 – engrafting (obsolete, rare).^[2]
• 1870 – the firm planting of the foot.^[2]
• 1885 – surgery, the operation of implanting something in the body.^[2]
• 1897 – pathology, the engrafting of a morbid growth.^[2]
• 1902 – embryology, the attachment of the fertilized ovum to the wall of the uterus.^[2][3]
• 1965 – physics, the introduction of ions into a crystal by bombardment.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of implanting something, or the state of being implanted: the implantation of a new idea in their minds.^[9][11][2]
2. In placental mammals, the attachment of the embryo (blastocyst) to the wall of the uterus; also called nidation.^[9][11][2]
3. The medical insertion of an implant into the body, such as the root of a tooth into a socket prepared in the jawbone.^[9][2]
4. The spread of tumor cells to a new site in the body.^[9][2]
5. (physics) The introduction of ions into a crystal by bombarding it with an ion beam.^[2]
6. (anatomy) The insertion of a muscle or organ, especially its manner and place.^[2][5]

Word family

• preimplantation
• reimplantation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins