Tine (structural)

Tines (/ˈtaɪnz/; also spelled tynes), prongs or teeth are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of a tool or natural object.

The number of tines on tools varies widely – a pitchfork may have just two, a garden fork may have four, and a rake or harrow many.

Tines may be blunt, such as those on a fork used as an eating utensil; or sharp, as on a pitchfork; or even barbed, as on a trident.

Tines and prongs occur in nature—for example, forming the branched bony antlers of deer or the forked horns of pronghorn antelopes.

In chaos theory (physics, non-linear dynamics), the branches of a bifurcation diagram are called tines and subtines.