Sprig
//spɹɪɡ// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small shoot or twig of a tree or other plant; a spray.
"a sprig of laurel or of parsley"
- 2 an ornament that resembles a spray of leaves or flowers wordnet
- 3 An ornament resembling a small shoot or twig.
- 4 a small branch or division of a branch (especially a terminal division); usually applied to branches of the current or preceding year wordnet
- 5 One of the separate pieces of lace fastened on a ground in applique lace.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 A youth; a lad. derogatory, humorous, mildly, sometimes
"a sprig whom I remember, with a whey-face and a satchel, not so many years ago"
- 7 A brad, or nail without a head.
- 8 A small eyebolt ragged or barbed at the point.
- 9 A house sparrow.
Verb
- 1 To decorate with sprigs, or with representations of sprigs, as in embroidery or pottery.
- 2 To nail the sole onto a shoe.
Example
More examples"Put a sprig of mint on top as a garnish."
Etymology
From Middle English sprig, sprigge, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle Low German sprik, spricke (“a dry, easily broken twig that has fallen from a tree; sprig”). Compare also dialectal English sprag (“sprig, twig”), English spray (“branch”), Old English spræc (“a shoot”), German Low German Spricke, Sprick (“dry branch, twig”).
Related phrases
More for "sprig"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.