tendril

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English

Etymology

From Middle French tendrillon (“bud, shoot, cartilage”), perhaps a diminutive of tendron (“cartilage”), from Old French tendre (“soft”) (see tender (adj.)), or else from Latin tendere (“to stretch, extend”) (see tender (v.)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtɛn.dɹəl/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Noun

tendril (plural tendrils)

  1. (botany) A thin, spirally coiling stem that attaches a plant to its support.
  2. (zoology) A hair-like tentacle.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

tendril (not comparable)

  1. Having the shape or properties of a tendril; thin and coiling; entwining.
    • 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 275:
      Kissing the tendril fingers - at first because Mina, its mother, did not - but later with a rapture begot by its breath on her breast.

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