Stem vs. Branch — What's the Difference?

The main ascending part of a plant; a stalk or trunk.

A branch (UK: or UK: , US: ) or tree branch (sometimes referred to in botany as a ramus) is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs.

A slender stalk supporting or connecting another plant part, such as a leaf or flower.

A part of a tree which grows out from the trunk or from a bough

A banana stalk bearing several bunches of bananas.

(of a road or path) divide into one or more subdivisions

The tube of a tobacco pipe.

(of a tree or plant) bear or send out branches

The slender upright support of a wineglass or goblet.

A secondary woody stem or limb growing from the trunk or main stem of a tree or shrub or from another secondary limb.

The small projecting shaft with an expanded crown by which a watch is wound.

A lateral division or subdivision of certain other plant parts, such as a root or flower cluster.

The rounded rod in the center of certain locks about which the key fits and is turned.

A secondary outgrowth or subdivision of a main axis, such as the tine of a deer's antlers.

The shaft of a feather or hair.

(Anatomy) An offshoot or a division of the main portion of a structure, especially that of a nerve, blood vessel, or lymphatic vessel; a ramus.

The upright stroke of a typeface or letter.

An area of specialized skill or knowledge, especially academic or vocational, that is related to but separate from other areas

(Music) The vertical line extending from the head of a note.

A division of a business or other organization.

The main line of descent of a family.

A division of a family, categorized by descent from a particular ancestor.

(Linguistics) The main part of a word to which affixes are added.

(Linguistics) A subdivision of a family of languages, such as the Germanic branch of Indo-European.

(Nautical) The curved upright beam at the fore of a vessel into which the hull timbers are scarfed to form the prow.

A tributary of a river.

The tubular glass structure mounting the filament or electrodes in an incandescent bulb or vacuum tube.

Chiefly Southern US See creek. See Note at run.

To have or take origin or descent

A divergent section of a river, especially near the mouth.

To remove the stem of

(Mathematics) A part of a curve that is separated, as by discontinuities or extreme points.

To provide with a stem

A sequence of program instructions to which the normal sequence of instructions relinquishes control, depending on the value of certain variables.

To make headway against (a tide or current, for example).

The instructions executed as the result of such a passing of control.

To stop or stanch (a flow)

(Chemistry) A bifurcation in a linear chain of atoms, especially in an organic molecule where isomeric hydrocarbon groups can vary in the location and number of these bifurcations of the carbon chain.

To restrain or stop

To put forth a branch or branches; spread by dividing.

To plug or tamp (a blast hole, for example).

To come forth as a branch or subdivision; develop or diverge from

(Sports) To turn (a ski, usually the uphill ski) by moving the heel outward.

(Computers) To relinquish control to another set of instructions or another routine as a result of the presence of a branch.

To stem a ski or both skis, as in making a turn.

To separate (something) into branches.

The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.

To embroider (something) with a design of foliage or flowers.

A branch of a family.

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

An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

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

(botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.

A creek or stream which flows into a larger river.

A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.

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

A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.

A location of an organization with several locations.

(linguistics) The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.

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

(slang) A person's leg.

(Mormonism) A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.

(slang) The penis.

An area in business or of knowledge, research.

(typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.

(nautical) A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters.

(music) A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.

(computing) A sequence of code that is conditionally executed.

(music) A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.

(computing) A group of related files in a source control system, including for example source code, build scripts, and media such as images.

(nautical) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.

(rail transport) A branch line.

(cycling) A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.

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

(anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.

(intransitive) To produce branches.

(slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.

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

A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.

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

Alternative form of STEM

(transitive) To strip of branches.

A lesbian, chiefly African-American, exhibiting both stud and femme traits.

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

To remove the stem from.

A shoot or secondary stem growing from the main stem, or from a principal limb or bough of a tree or other plant.

To be caused or derived; to originate.

Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as, the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a branch of a river; a branch of a railway.

To descend in a family line.

Any member or part of a body or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; a department.

To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.

One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance; as, the branches of an hyperbola.

(obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.

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

To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.

A warrant or commission given to a pilot, authorizing him to pilot vessels in certain waters.

(transitive) To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).

Diverging from, or tributary to, a main stock, line, way, theme, etc.; as, a branch vein; a branch road or line; a branch topic; a branch store.

(skiing) To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.

To shoot or spread in branches; to separate into branches; to ramify.

To gleam.

To divide into separate parts or subdivision.

To remove the stem or stems from; as, to stem cherries; to remove the stem and its appendages (ribs and veins) from; as, to stem tobacco leaves.

To divide as into branches; to make subordinate division in.

To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.

To adorn with needlework representing branches, flowers, or twigs.

To oppose or cut with, or as with, the stem of a vessel; to resist, or make progress against; to stop or check the flow of, as a current.

An administrative division of some larger or more complex organization;

To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.

A division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant

A gleam of light; flame.

A part of a forked or branching shape;

The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches or the head or top.

A natural consequence of development

A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as, the stem of an apple or a cherry.

A stream or river connected to a larger one

The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.

Any projection that is thought to resemble an arm;

A branch of a family.

Grow and send out branches or branch-like structures;

A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.

Divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork;

Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.

That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.

The entire central axis of a feather.

The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.

The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.

(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed;

A slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ

Cylinder forming a long narrow part of something

The tube of a tobacco pipe

Front part of a vessel or aircraft;

A turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it

Grow out of, have roots in, originate in;

Cause to point inward;

Stop the flow of a liquid;

Remove the stem from;