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Twig vs Understand - What's the difference?

twig | understand |

In transitive terms the difference between twig and understand

is that twig is to beat with twigs while understand is to be aware of the meaning of.

As a noun twig

is a small thin branch of a tree or bush.

twig

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) twigge, from (etyl) . More at two.

Noun

(wikipedia twig) (en noun)
  • A small thin branch of a tree or bush.
  • They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=1 citation , passage=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.}}
    Derived terms
    *

    Verb

    (twigg)
  • To beat with twigs.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) and (etyl) .

    Verb

    (twigg)
  • (colloquial, regional) To realise something; to catch on.
  • :* He hasn't twigged that we're planning a surprise party for him.
  • * {{quote-web
  • , date=2012-05-30 , year= , first= , last= , author=John E. McIntyre , authorlink= , title=A future for copy editors , site=Baltimore Sun citation , archiveorg= , accessdate= , passage= Well, with fewer people doing two or three times the work, you may have already twigged to this. }}
  • To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.
  • Do you twig me?
  • To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.
  • * Foote
  • Now twig him; now mind him.
  • * Hawthorne
  • as if he were looking right into your eyes and twigged something there which you had half a mind to conceal

    Etymology 3

    Compare tweak.

    Verb

    (twigg)
  • (obsolete, Scotland) To twitch; to pull; to tweak.
  • (Webster 1913)

    understand

    English

    Alternative forms

    * understaund (obsolete)

    Verb

  • (lb) To be aware of the meaning of.
  • :
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I understand not what you mean by this.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
  • To believe, based on information.
  • :
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.
  • To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.
  • :
  • :In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:
  • ::
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • To stand under; to support.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • Usage notes

    * Common objects of this verb include text'', ''word(s)'', ''sentence(s)'', ''note(s) , etc. * Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded'' may be found, e.g. in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and ''Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church .

    Synonyms

    * (to know the meaning) apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok * (to believe) believe

    Antonyms

    * misunderstand

    Derived terms

    * I don’t understand * understandable * understanding * understood

    See also

    * explain * why