English Explanatory Dictionary

thistle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

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.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/θɪsl̩/ En-us-thistle.ogg

Word forms

thistle thistles

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.

Derived words

artichoke thistle blessed milk thistle blessed thistle bull thistle burr thistle Canada thistle carline thistle common sow thistle corn thistle cotton thistle creeping thistle curly plumeless thistle dwarf thistle edible thistle European swamp thistle fuller's thistle globe thistle golden thistle hare's thistle hedgehog thistle Indian thistle Italian thistle Kansas thistle Marian thistle marsh thistle Mary thistle Mediterranean milk thistle melancholy thistle milk thistle musk thistle nodding thistle pasture thistle pine thistle plumed thistle Plymouth thistle roadside thistle Russian thistle Saint Mary's thistle Scotch thistle shore thistle slough thistle soldier thistle sow-thistle sow thistle spear thistle star thistle star-thistle starthistle stemless thistle tall thistle thistle bird thistle butterfly thistle button thistle crown thistledown thistlefinch thistle funnel thistle sage thistle tube thistly
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