Branch

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

Definitions

1. A division or subdivision of a tree growing from the trunk, or a local office or division of a larger organization that operates somewhat independently
2. A woody extension growing out from the main part of a tree ; a subdivision or local unit of a larger company or group ; one of the separate parts of a mathematical diagram or possibility tree
3. A protruding part of a plant trunk that supports leaves or smaller twigs ; a regional office or segment within a widespread organization ; a segment or pathway in a branching mathematical model

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "branch" is that it may have started life as a word for a paw. Late Latin "branca" meant "footprint," and later came to mean "paw" or "claw," the sense of a clawed foot. The word then passed into Old French as "branche" and into Middle English in forms like "braunche" and "bronche," where it kept the sense of a limb spreading out from a trunk. Its ancestry beyond Latin is unclear, though it may be Celtic, perhaps from a Gaulish form "vranca," which would link it to Old Norse words for an angle or corner. The verb followed the noun into English. It arrived in Middle English as "braunchen," formed directly from the noun, so to branch was originally to put out limbs, and only later came to mean dividing into separate paths or parts.

Synonyms: limb, bough, division, section, outgrowth

Antonyms: trunk