Language Corner: Is a Heart Transplanted or Transplanted?

The prefixes trans- and tras- are used with the senses of ‘on the other side’, ‘through’ or ‘behind’. And if this is so, both transplanting and transplanting should be valid words; but the variant that appears in the Spanish dictionary is the one written with the prefix tras- (to transplant).

Regarding this, the Spelling of the Spanish language (OLE) indicates that the group -ns- has been reduced to -s- in many words that contain the prefix of Latin origin trans-. It should be emphasized that this simplification is not general, since in the Spanish lexicon there are still words that can be written with trans- or tras-. As examples we have the terms ferry and ferry, transfer and transfer, transmit and transmit, transport and transport, translucent and translucent, translation and translation, transnational and transnational, among others.

However, the BE specifies that when trans- is followed by a consonant, since the group -ns- is at the end of the syllable, its reduction to -s- is frequent in educated pronunciation. Precisely, the words transplant, transplant and transplantation come in here.

In short, the infinitive transplant is recommended with its corresponding verb forms (transplant, transplant, transplant, etc.), since they are the voices that have prestige and are most widely used today. Therefore, in favor of unity, it is better to say that “a heart is transplanted.” (F)

SOURCES:

Spanish dictionary (electronic version), Spelling of the Spanish language (2010), of the Royal Spanish Academy and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language.