piercing vs transfixion

piercing

noun
  • A hole made in the body so that jewellery can be worn through it. 

  • An item of jewellery designed to be fitted through a piercing (sense 2). 

adj
  • Appearing to look deeply into; penetrating. 

  • Of sound, loud and sharp; shrill. 

  • Of temperature, extremely cold so that it penetrates through clothing and shelter. 

transfixion

noun
  • In amputation, passing the knife from side to side through tissue close to the bone and dividing muscles outward. 

How often have the words piercing and transfixion occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )