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thistle

Pronunciation: /θɪsl̩/

The English word “thistle” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
  2. This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
  3. An image of this plant used as a charge.
  4. The Order of the Thistle, or membership thereof.

Etymology

From Middle English thistel, from Old English þistel, from Proto-West Germanic *þistil, from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz. *þīh- from *teyg-, which is a variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to prick”); from this same Proto-Indo-European root comes English stick. Cognates include Scots thrissel, German Distel, Dutch distel, and Old Norse and Icelandic þistill.

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