branch

Meaning

Noun

1. The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing.
2. Any of the parts of something that divides like the branch of a tree.
3. (Southern-US) A creek or stream which flows into a larger river.
4. One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance.
5. A location of an organization with several locations.
6. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.
7. (Mormonism) A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.
8. An area in business or of knowledge, research.
9. A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters.
10. A sequence of code that is conditionally executed.
11. A group of related files in a source control system, including for example source code, build scripts, and media such as images.
12. A branch line.
13. A path of vertices of degree 2, ending at vertices whose degree is not 2.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree.
2. (intransitive) To produce branches.
3. (ambitransitive) To (cause to) divide into separate parts or subdivisions.
4. (intransitive) To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement.
5. (transitive) To strip of branches.
6. (colloquial, transitive) To discipline (a union member) at a branch meeting.

Synonyms

bough

twig

fork

department

section

division

limb

arm

offshoot

ramify

chapter

affiliate

field

stick

pigeonhole

compartment

subsidiary

tributary

subdivision

leg

🦵

branch office

sector

ramification

group

part

sprig

shoot

branch-line

category

agency

branch out

speciality

separate

branching

branch off

sect

forked stick

bifurcation

class

bifurcate

furcate

unit

faction

bypass

distributary

branchlet

service

branch establishment

ramus

outgrowth

Translations

branche

rama

Zweig

ramo

Ast

ramo

💐

tak

succursale

rameau

galho

κλάδος

dal

sucursal

Filiale

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: branche

Cognate with Middle High German: pranke

Cognate with German: Pranke

Cognate with Old Norse: rá

Cognate with Lithuanian: rankà

Cognate with Church Slavic: рѫка

Cognate with Albanian: rangë

Inherited from Middle English: braunchen

In summary

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.

Sentences

Industry is a main branch of region economy .

He entered the Yogyakarta branch of the movement .