twig
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
twigIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtwɪɡ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
A small branch or division of a branch (especially a terminal division); usually applied to branches of the current or preceding year
bodybuildingslang
Somebody, or one of their body parts, not looking developed.
verb
Understand, usually after some initial difficulty
To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.
intransitive
To be realized and understood; to click.
To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.
To twitch
To tweak
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
Used this way, twig is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A disease of the ends of twigs of woody plants.
European deciduous shrub turning red in autumn having dull white flowers.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- toothbrushnoun
- walnutnoun
- barknoun
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.