tendril

noun

ten·​dril ˈten-drəl 

1

: a leaf, stipule, or stem modified into a slender spirally coiling sensitive organ serving to attach a climbing plant to its support

2

: something suggestive of a tendril

creeping tendrils of fog

tendriled adjective

or tendrilled

ˈten-drəld 

tendrilous

ˈten-drə-ləs 

adjective

Illustration of tendril

• tendril 1

Examples of tendril in a Sentence

A few tendrils of hair framed her face.

Recent Examples on the Web

Sprites, by contrast, often resemble crimson jellyfish or branching tendrils rising above thunderstorms. —Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 19 Dec. 2025

The Na’vi’s neural-locs connect to the tendrils coming out of the tree like God-ethernet. —Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2025

This is also not the voice that was oblivious to what the newspapers and the magazines of the time said about her, or the letters in handwriting that meandered like tendrils on a vine. —Literary Hub, 11 Dec. 2025

Here, sheer cliff faces on either side of the valley form an enormous chasm, framing the mountains that are topped with a tapestry of green fields, tendrils of cloud weaving between them. —Liam Hess, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably modification of Middle French tendron bud, cartilage, alteration of Old French tenrum, from Vulgar Latin *tenerumen, from Latin tener tender — more at tender entry 1

First Known Use

1538, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

tendril

noun

ten·​dril ˈten-drəl 

1

: a slender leafless winding stem by which some climbing plants fasten themselves to a support

2

: something that curls like a tendril

tendrils of hair