xenograft

American  

[zen-uh-graft, -grahft, zee-nuh-] / ˈzɛn əˌgræft, -ˌgrɑft, ˈzi nə- /

noun

Surgery.

1. a graft obtained from a member of one species and transplanted to a member of another species.

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xenograft British  

/ ˈzɛnəʊˌɡrɑːft /

noun

1. another word for heterograft

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xenograft Scientific  

/ zĕn′ə-grăft′,zē′nə- /

1. A graft in which the donor and recipient are of different species.

2. Compare allograft autograft

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Etymology

Origin of xenograft

First recorded in 1960–65; xeno- + graft ¹

Compare meaning

How does xenograft compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• allograft vs. xenograft

Example Sentences

Roughly 5% of the oncRNAs produced clear biological effects in xenograft mouse models.

From Science Daily • Feb. 17, 2026

She injected them into zebrafish embryos, creating xenograft models -- an avatar for each specific patient.

From Science Daily • Oct. 4, 2023

In short, xenograft and many transgenic cancer models fail to model one or more key phases of human cancer.

From Nature • Sep. 18, 2013

A xenograft rarely spreads within a mouse, so it can't really be used to study one of the most deadly aspects of human disease, metastasis.

From Slate • Nov. 18, 2011

This xenograft, as it’s called, would stay in place until the underlying tissue had regenerated enough to supply blood to the skin graft.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater