left-branching

[ left-bran-ching, -brahn- ]

adjective

, Linguistics.

1. (of a grammatical construction) characterized by greater structural complexity in the position preceding the head, as the phrase my brother's friend's house; having most of the constituents on the left in a tree diagram ( right-branching ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of left-branching¹

First recorded in 1960–65