twig
1 Americannoun
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a slender shoot of a tree or other plant.
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a small offshoot from a branch or stem.
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a small, dry, woody piece fallen from a branch.
a fire of twigs.
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Anatomy. one of the minute branches of a blood vessel or nerve.
verb (used with object)
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twigs,
present (3rd person singular)
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twigged,
past participle, past
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twigging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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twigs,
present (3rd person singular)
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twigged,
past participle, past
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twigging
present participle
noun
verb
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to understand (something)
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to find out or suddenly comprehend (something)
he hasn't twigged yet
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rare (tr) to perceive (something)
noun
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any small branch or shoot of a tree or other woody plant
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something resembling this, esp a minute branch of a blood vessel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
twigsimple
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twigssimple
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have twiggedperfect
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has twiggedperfect
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am twiggingprogressive
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are twiggingprogressive
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is twiggingprogressive
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have been twiggingperfect progressive
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has been twiggingperfect progressive
Past
-
twiggedsimple
-
had twiggedperfect
-
was twiggingprogressive
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were twiggingprogressive
-
had been twiggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of twig1
First recorded before 950; Middle English twig, twig(g)e; Old English twig, twigge, twī originally “(something) divided in two”; akin to Old High German zwīg ( German Zweig ), Dutch twijg; compare Sanskrit dvikás “double”; see origin at twi- ( def. )
Origin of twig2
First recorded in 1760–70; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Irish tuigim “I understand”
Origin of twig3
First recorded in 1805–15; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Soon enough, trees everywhere were showing blotchy, mottled, yellowed leaves and suffering from twig dieback and sparse foliage.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
I’m so curious with the twig and the hair and the blood and the bell — Is that a thing?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
In 1960, during her first year at Gombe, Goodall observed a chimpanzee she called David Greybeard carefully strip a twig of leaves and use it to root out tasty termites from a mound.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2025
He then used that stripped, bent twig to spoon the termites into his mouth.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2025
A few paces off the trail, he found three long black hairs snagged on a twig at about head height.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
I found myself surprisingly moved by the meditative activities and programming, even if it felt silly at first to be constructing a mandala with leaves and twigs in the middle of a workweek.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Some create burrows in the ground, others use cavities in wood such as tree hollows or fallen branches, and some nest inside plant stems or small existing holes in twigs.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026
British music star FKA twigs is to play Josephine Baker in a new biopic of the Roaring Twenties icon who became a hero of the French Resistance and the American civil rights movement.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
They also have to remove leaves, twigs and needles from gutters, and they already cannot keep exposed firewood in piles next to their house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026
Two women at the river’s edge were beating clothes against rocks while their children placed twigs and leaves on the water and watched as the current caught them up.
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
“People soon twigged that it was Peaky Blinders - the steam-powered narrowboat and the actor’s clothing gave that away,” added Mr Allen.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024
In those instances I think they had twigged what was coming.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 29, 2018
Then, eventually, they twigged that we were interested in biodiversity, flora, and fauna, and people started coming in with chameleons.
From The Verge ● Aug. 28, 2018
Many people on Wall Street twigged to this a good while ago.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 27, 2017
If Pamela really is the culprit, the evidence was right in front of us, and nobody twigged to it.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
“One night, returnin home to bed, I walk’d through Pim-li-co, And, twigging of the Palass, sed, ‘I’m Jones and In-i-go.’
From Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by John Ashton
He and Bob knew they would be in for a certain amount of twigging because of their defeat, but he knew how to take it in good part.
From The Radio Boys with the Revenue Guards by Gerald Breckenridge
One night, returnin home to bed, I walk’d through Pim-li-co, And, twigging of the Palass, sed, “I’m Jones and In-i-go.”
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 7, 1841 by Various
You are right," said Smith, "I—was twigging you again.
From Captivating Mary Carstairs by Raymond Moreau Crosby
You couldn't talk friendly to him without twigging that.
From Mrs. Thompson A Novel by W. B. (William Babington) Maxwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
