transfusion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trānsfūsiō (“a decanting, intermingling”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a noun of action from trānsfundō (“to pour from one vessel into another”),^[2][3][4] which is formed from trāns- (“across, beyond”) and fundō (“to pour”).^[3][2] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *gheu- (“to pour”).^[3] Etymonline gives the English word as also borrowed from French transfusion,^[3] and the OED compares the French noun, recorded from 1307.^[2] The verb transfuse is recorded in English from the early 15th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of pouring a liquid from one vessel into another, and figuratively transference or transmission: 1578, in J. Banister's Historie of Man.^[2][3][5] Johnson (1755) still defined it as the act of pouring out of one into another, with a quotation from Boyle about quicksilver.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense, the transfer of one person's or animal's blood into the veins of another, appears in 1643;^[2][3] Etymonline notes that it was at first theoretical or metaphorical.^[3] It is now the main meaning, and Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary describe the general sense, "an act of transfusing", before it.^[5][8] In slang a transfusion has been a fresh supply of cash in Australian racing (1989), and in American CB radio talk to get a transfusion was to fill a vehicle with fuel (1976).^[9]

Timeline

• 1578 – the pouring of a liquid from one vessel into another; transference, transmission.^[2][5]
• 1643 – the transferring of blood from one person or animal into the veins of another.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The transfer of blood or blood products from one person or animal into a vein or artery of another: After the accident he needed two transfusions.^{[8][5][2][10]}
2. The act of pouring or transferring something from one container or person to another; transmission: a transfusion of fresh ideas into the department.^[2][5][10]

Word family

• transfusional
• autotransfusion
• posttransfusion

Related words

• transfuse
• fusion
• infusion
• effusion
• found

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins