This masculine plural noun denotes the tendrils or branches of grapevines and fig trees—the flexible offshoots that bear fruit. Genesis 40:10 and 40:12 use it in Pharaoh's cupbearer's dream where he sees a vine with three 'branches' budding and blossoming, then bearing grapes. Joel 1:7 laments the locust devastation that stripped 'the branches' of the fig tree white. The root relates to interlacing or braiding (cognate to Arabic terms for braided palm-leaves), capturing the intertwined character of vine branches. The term emphasizes the productive, fruit-bearing parts of the plant rather than the main trunk.