3 ms·
Graft is a funny word. It seems to come from horticulture and means "to join or unite". Then it's used as a synonym for work, especially hard work, which doesn'
by dmos62 8y ago
Graft is a funny word. It seems to come from horticulture and means "to join or unite". Then it's used as a synonym for work, especially hard work, which doesn't have an obvious relation to the horticultural use. Then there's the corruption meaning, which is a metaphor of how a parasite forms a union with its host, I presume. So if you're being metaphoric, "graft" can be used for a harmonic union and an abusive union. There aren't a lot of words like that, I think.
- ip26 8y ago"Cleave" can mean both "to split apart" or "to join together".
- mc32 8y agoIn that vein sanction can mean approve (homologate) and it can mean punish, penalize.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoAccording to https://www.etymonline.com/word/graft https://www.etymonline.com/word/graft ... graft (the horticultural concept) derives ultimately from the Greek for "stylus", after the knife used in the process, and this etymology is considered reliable. graft (British English for your job) is not well understood but speculated to come from the word graft (meaning ditch/trench), possibly from Dutch. graft (American English for corruption) is speculated to come from the British word for your job. It's not felt to be related to the horticultural term.
- dmos62 8y agoThanks for the link, I think I'll be coming back to that site from time to time. My long time favorite dictionary is thefreedictionary.com, but with graft, for the first time the description was subpar.
- pdpi 8y agoThere’s more than you’d think. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_contranyms https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_contranyms