twig
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
Old English twigge, from Proto-Germanic *twīgan (compare West Frisian twiich, Dutch twijg, German Zweig), from Proto-Indo-European *dwigha (compare Old Church Slavonic dvigŭ 'branch', Albanian degë 'id.'), from *dwó 'two'. More at two.
Pronunciation [edit]
- Rhymes: -ɪɡ
Noun [edit]
- A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
- They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.
- 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, The Dust of Conflict[1]:
- A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.
Translations [edit]
a small thin branch
|
|
Derived terms [edit]
Verb [edit]
twig (third-person singular simple present twigs, present participle twigging, simple past and past participle twigged)
- (transitive) To beat with twigs.
Etymology 2 [edit]
From Irish and Scots Gaelic tuig, "to understand"
Verb [edit]
twig (third-person singular simple present twigs, present participle twigging, simple past and past participle twigged)
- (colloquial, regional) To realise something; to 'catch on'.
-
- He hasn't 'twigged' that we're planning a surprise party for him.
- 2012 May 30, John E. McIntyre, “A future for copy editors”, Baltimore Sun:
- Well, with fewer people doing two or three times the work, you may have already twigged to this.
-
