An offshoot is something that branches off or develops from something larger or more established. Like a small branch growing from the trunk of a tree, an offshoot starts from an original source but becomes its own separate thing.

In nature, an offshoot is literally a new shoot or stem growing from a plant's main body. Gardeners sometimes remove these offshoots and plant them separately to grow new plants.

The word also describes organizations, ideas, or groups that split off from something bigger. When a successful restaurant opens a second location in another city, that new restaurant is an offshoot of the original. When members of a club disagree about how things should work and form their own separate club, that's an offshoot too. Computer programming languages can have offshoots: someone takes an existing language and creates a modified version that works differently.

An offshoot maintains some connection to its origin but develops its own identity. When you see the word, think about that relationship: something new that came from something else but is now growing on its own.