Small pieces cut from plants, usually stems with leaves, that can be planted to grow new plants. Cuttings are a way to reproduce plants without using seeds.
From Middle English 'cutting,' derived from the verb 'cut' plus the suffix '-ing.' The noun form emerged in the 1500s-1600s as gardening and horticulture became more systematic. The word simply refers to pieces that have been cut, extending into the gardening context to mean plant fragments used for propagation.
Cuttings are why you can clone plants—break off a branch from your mom's favorite houseplant, stick it in water, and you've essentially created a genetic copy! This technique predates genetic engineering by centuries and shows how gardeners were 'copying' organisms long before we understood DNA.
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