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PlainSpell

branch

/bɹænt͡ʃ/noun, verb

branch is spelled B-R-A-N-C-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 38 times per million words in written English, the 2,581st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, branch means “The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of branch is branches.

How many letters and syllables are in branch?

Letters6: B-R-A-N-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing38 times per million words; the 2,581st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is branch?

Branch appears 38 times per million words in written English, the 2,581st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce branch?

  • UK /bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/
  • US /bɹænt͡ʃ/
  • /bɹant͡ʃ/

Branch has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-branch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with branch?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as branch from its last stressed vowel (/æntʃ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of branch

  • branches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • branching participle, present
  • branched participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does branch mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing.

  2. 2

    Any of the parts of something that divides like the branch of a tree.

    the branch of an antler, a chandelier, or a railway

  3. 3

    A creek or stream which flows into a larger river.

    branch water

  4. 4

    One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance.

    the branches of a hyperbola

  5. 5

    A location of an organization with several locations.

    Our main branch is downtown, and we have branches in all major suburbs.

  6. 6

    A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.

    the English branch of a family

  7. 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. 8

    An area in business or of knowledge, research.

verb

  1. 1

    To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree.

  2. 2

    To produce branches.

  3. 3

    To (cause to) divide into separate parts or subdivisions.

  4. 4

    To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement.

  5. 5

    To strip of branches.

  6. 6

    colloquialTo discipline (a union member) at a branch meeting.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Branch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbranche, rameau (woody part of a tree arising from the trunk), affluent (creek or stream which flows into a larger river), filiale, succursale (location of an organization with several…), brancher (to jump to a different location in a program…)
GermanAst, Zweig (woody part of a tree arising from the trunk), Zweigstelle (location of an organization with several…), Abzweigung, Ästelung, Zweigung (part that divides like the branch of a tree)
Portuguesegalho, ramo (woody part of a tree arising from the trunk), filial (location of an organization with several…), broto, ramal (part that divides like the branch of a tree), dividir (to arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a…)
Spanishrama (woody part of a tree arising from the trunk), sucursal, delegación, filial (location of an organization with several…), ramal (part that divides like the branch of a tree), ramificar (to arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does branch come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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