branch

Meaning

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. 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. 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.

branch

bough

twig

fork

department

section

division

limb

arm

offshoot

ramify

chapter

affiliate

compartment

pigeonhole

subsidiary

field

stick

tributary

subdivision

branch office

leg

part

group

ramification

sector

sprig

agency

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

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.