Twigg

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. A slender, flexible shoot or stem of a woody plant, typically bare of leaves
2. A thin woody stem or branch, especially one that is small and supple
3. A delicate shoot or branch of a tree or shrub, often used in bundles for kindling

Etymology: The spelling with a double "g" is a variant of "twig," the slender shoot growing off a branch. The plain word is an Old English noun, and its deeper link is to the number two. Its Germanic relatives include German "Zweig" (branch) and "zwei" (two), which points to an old sense of something that splits into two forks. Because the spelling is a variant, it does not change the word's history. The same root gives the verb "twig," which means to notice or grasp something, probably from the sense of a branch being noticed. The connection between a shoot on a tree and the idea of understanding is not something I can fully trace here.