sprig
/spɹɪɡ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.43 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An ornament resembling a small shoot or twig.
noun
verb
To decorate with sprigs, or with representations of sprigs, as in embroidery or pottery.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "a sprig of laurel or of parsley"
- "[…] from this bush in the dooryard, / With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green, / A sprig with its flower I break."
- "“Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard.[…]""
- "a sprig whom I remember, with a whey-face and a satchel, not so many years ago"
Etymology
From Middle English sprig, sprigge, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle Low German sprik, spricke (“a dry, easily broken twig that has fallen from a tree; sprig”). Compare also dialectal English sprag (“sprig, twig”), English spray (“branch”), Old English spræc (“a shoot”), German Low German Spricke, Sprick (“dry branch, twig”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sprig, sprik