Sprigs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small stem or branch of a plant often used for flavoring or decoration
2. A youthful shoot or twig, commonly taken from various herbs or trees for culinary purposes
3. A garnish or decorative piece made from a cut portion of greenery or floral growth

Etymology: "Sprigs" is the plural of "sprig," which names a small shoot or twig, the kind used to garnish a plate or add a herb's flavor to a dish. The noun is inherited from Middle English, where "sprig" and "sprigge" appeared, but its ultimate source is uncertain. Scholars have proposed a link to Middle Low German "sprik" or "spricke," meaning a dry, easily broken twig fallen from a tree, though that connection is not settled. The word sits in a small family of related terms across English and its neighbors. Dialectal English "sprag" meant a sprig or twig, and "spray" in the sense of a branch is a close relative. Old English "spræc" meant a shoot, and Low German forms such as "Spricke" and "Sprick" kept the sense of a dry branch. Taken together, these suggest that the core idea was a thin, slender piece of growth, long before it became a culinary decoration.

Synonyms: twigs, branches, shoots, stems, cuts