tendril

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛn.dɹəl/

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tendril (plural tendrils)

1. (botany) A thin, spirally coiling stem that attaches a plant to its support.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 17:

     The Gourd, / And thirſty Cucumer, vvhen they perceive / Th' approaching Olive, vvith Reſentment fly / Her fatty Fibres, and vvith Tendrils creep / Diverſe, deteſting Contact; […]

2. (zoology) A hair-like tentacle.
3. (by extension) Anything shaped like a tendril or coil.
   • 2025 July 2, Yola Mzizi, “With All Eyes on Them, a ‘WAG’ Style Emerges”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Her blond hair was tied into a half up, half down style with face-framing tendrils.

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.

• trindle