branch
/bɹænt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.58 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A location of an organization with several locations.
noun
A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.
noun
A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.
noun
An area in business or of knowledge, research.
Example Sentences
- "Selfe loue, to him ſelf tender, to the reſt tough, / Is, of iuſt iuſtice, neither roote, braunce, nor bough. / Loue (namely ſelfe loue) corruptibly growyng, / Is cheefe lodeſter of lets, in iuſtice ſhowing."
- "And they played softly in the Aeolian mode a music that was like the wailing of wind through bare branches on a moonless night, and the Red Foliot leaned forth from his high seat and recited this lamentation: […]"
- "the branch of an antler, a chandelier, or a railway"
- "branch water"
- "the branches of a hyperbola"
- "Our main branch is downtown, and we have branches in all major suburbs."
Etymology
From Middle English branche, braunche, bronche, from Old French branche, branke, from Late Latin branca (“footprint”, later also “paw, claw”) (whence Middle High German pranke, German Pranke (“paw”)), of unknown origin. Perhaps of Celtic origin, from a hypothetical Gaulish *vranca, from Proto-Indo-European *wrónk-eh₂. If so, then Indo-European cognates include Old Norse rá, vró (“angle, corner”), and possibly Lithuanian rankà (“hand”), Old Church Slavonic рѫка (rǫka, “hand”), Albanian rangë (“yardwork”). The verb is from Middle English braunchen, from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: branche, branca, -, *vranca, braunchen, Branch
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɹænt͡ʃ/
- British English: /bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.