branch

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /brɑːntʃ/, US /bræntʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English braunche,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French branche (“branch, bough, twig; branch of a family”) (12th century),^[3][2] from Late Latin branca (“footprint; later a claw, paw”),^[3][2][4] of unknown origin, said to be probably Gaulish.^[3][2] The same word gave Spanish and Italian branca “claw” and Romanian brîncă “hand, paw”.^[5] The connecting notion is the shape, compare pedigree.^[3] In English it replaced native bough.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A part of a tree growing out of the trunk: about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline,^[2][3] before 1300 in the OED, which also has the extended sense, a lateral division of anything, from 1297.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was used early of things that relate to a main stem as a branch does to a trunk, such as geographical features and lines of family descent.^[3] A branch of a candelabrum is from 1476,^[6] a division of a deer's antler from 1485,^[6] and in American English a small stream or brook from 1624.^[6] A component part of a system is from the 1690s, which led to the local office of a business, by 1817.^[3] The verb, to put forth branches, is from before 1375 in Barnhart,^[2] 1382 in the OED,^[6] and to spread out from a centre from about 1400.^[3]

Timeline

• 1297 – a lateral division.^[6]
• c. 1300 – a branch of a tree.^[2][3]
• a. 1375 – verb.^[2]
• 1476 – of a candelabrum.^[6]
• 1624 – a brook.^[6]
• 1690s – a part of a system.^[3]
• 1817 – a branch office.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A woody limb growing from the trunk or main stem of a tree or shrub.
2. A side division of something, as of a river, road or nerve.
3. A local office or shop of a business or organization.
4. A division of a family descended from one ancestor.
5. An area of a subject: a branch of mathematics.
6. (US) A small stream; a creek.

Verb

1. To put forth branches; to divide.
2. To develop or diverge from a main part.
3. branch out: to widen one's interests or activities.

Word family

• branchless
• branchy
• branched
• branchlet
• branch line
• branch water

Related words

• ranch
• bough
• pedigree

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press