A sprig is a small stem or shoot from a plant, usually with a few leaves or flowers attached. When you snip off a little branch of rosemary or mint from a garden plant, you're holding a sprig. Cooks often use sprigs of fresh herbs like thyme or parsley to add flavor to soups and roasts, removing them before serving.

The word suggests something small and delicate, just a piece of the whole plant rather than an entire branch. You might tuck a sprig of holly into a holiday wreath or float a sprig of lavender in bathwater. Gardeners sometimes plant sprigs in soil, hoping they'll grow roots and become new plants.

People also use sprig playfully to describe a young, small person, especially in old-fashioned phrases like “a young sprig.” It carries a sense of something fresh and new, just starting to grow.