PIE word *dwóh₁ Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *twīgą Proto-West Germanic *twīg Old English twiġ Middle English twig English twig From Middle English twig, twyg, twigge, twygge, from Old English twigg, twicg, from Proto-West Germanic *twiggu (“small twig, shoot”), apparently a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *twig (“branch, twig”) (whence also Old English twiġ and twiġa), from Proto-Germanic *twīgą, from Proto-Indo-European *dwigʰom, from *dwóh₁. More at two. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian twiich, twiig (“twig”), Saterland Frisian Twiech (“branch, twig”), West Frisian twiich (“twig”), Dutch twijg (“twig”), German Zweig (“branch, twig; section”), German Low German Twieg (“branch, twig”), Luxembourgish Zwäig (“twig”), Yiddish צווײַג (tsvayg, “branch”); also Old Church Slavonic двигъ (dvigŭ, “branch”), Albanian degë (“branch”).
1
A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.
A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
2
Bodybuilding, Hobbies, Lifestyle, SportsSlang Somebody, or one of their body parts, not looking developed.
You need to find a source of motivation and play off of that. Whether it be the jock in high school that always called you fat, or the guy who picked on you and called you a twig.2007 February 24, Matt Weik, CSCS, “Successful Tips and Tricks For Contest Prep!”, in Bodybuilding.com, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2024:
Schwarzenegger was long past his professional bodybuilding days when he and Carrere shot the tango scene, but he wasn’t a twig.2022 July 19, Jason Rossi, “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Most Dangerous Mistake on ‘True Lies’: ‘It Would Have Put Us Back 30 Days in the Production’”, in Showbiz CheatSheet:
PIE word *dwóh₁ Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *twīgą Proto-West Germanic *twīg Old English twiġ Middle English twig English twig From Middle English twig, twyg, twigge, twygge, from Old English twigg, twicg, from Proto-West Germanic *twiggu (“small twig, shoot”), apparently a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *twig (“branch, twig”) (whence also Old English twiġ and twiġa), from Proto-Germanic *twīgą, from Proto-Indo-European *dwigʰom, from *dwóh₁. More at two. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian twiich, twiig (“twig”), Saterland Frisian Twiech (“branch, twig”), West Frisian twiich (“twig”), Dutch twijg (“twig”), German Zweig (“branch, twig; section”), German Low German Twieg (“branch, twig”), Luxembourgish Zwäig (“twig”), Yiddish צווײַג (tsvayg, “branch”); also Old Church Slavonic двигъ (dvigŭ, “branch”), Albanian degë (“branch”).
1
To beat with twigs.
twig
verb
Etymology From Irish and Scottish Gaelic tuig (“to understand”).
1
Colloquial, Regional To realise something; to catch on; to recognize someone or something.
He hasn't twigged that we're planning a surprise party for him.
I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35:
3 more examples
I twigged him at once, by the description you gave me. I never see a cove togged out as he was,—tall hat, light sit-down-upons, and a short coat—wasn't it cut short! but in really bang-up style.1915, “Putting on the Screw”, in Caught in the Net, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, translation of Les Esclaves de Paris by Émile Gaboriau, page 23:
Well, with fewer people doing two or three times the work, you may have already twigged to this.2012 May 30, John E. McIntyre, “A future for copy editors”, in Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 23 Jun 2013:
At this point in our story, we first meet the fleet repair ship Kamchatka, who everyone would soon become regrettably familiar with. Her entry into our account here was her signal that she was under attack by torpedo boats! When she was asked how many, she replied "about eight, from all directions!". Eventually, someone twigged to the fact that absolutely nobody else could see so much as a seagull, let alone any exceptionally-lost Japanese torpedo boats. And, when nothing actually happened, Kamchatka refused to say that it was a false alarm, only that it had altered course and the torpedo boats had gone away.2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 18:23 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2023:
2
To be realized and understood; to click.
Dries had told us to bring at least twenty litres of water because there was no water in camp and very few tourists stayed there. I knew I wouldn't get a shower for three days, but I wasn't worried about that. It hadn't twigged that the reason we needed to bring our own water was that the camp itself was a warzone.2009, Tammie Matson, Elephant Dance:
As the photographer took a couple of preliminary photographs of Mandy, Marcus seized the moment. He knelt behind her. When Mandy turned around, she was initially confused. Then it twigged – he was proposing.2023 October 26, Francesca Street, “Two strangers moved into an apartment in Prague. Then they fell in love”, in CNN Travel:
3
To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.
Do you twig me?
4
To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.
Now twig him; now mind him: mark how he hawls his muscles about.1763, Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garratt, act 2:
This excellent man appears to have sunk into himself in a sitting posture, […] while his exceedingly homely and wrinkled face, held a little on one side, twinkles at you with the shrewdest complacency, as if he were looking right into your eyes and twigged something there which you had half a mind to conceal from him.1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home: