branch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A part of a tree that grows out from the trunk.

   A bird sat on a branch of the old oak tree.

2. 2
   noun

   A local office or part of a larger company or organization.

   The bank opened a new branch in our town.

3. 3
   verb

   To divide into two or more parts, like the branches of a tree.

   The road branches in two just past the bridge.

Common collocations

• a branch office Adjective + noun

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.

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