thistle

See also: Thistle

English

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 Icelandic þistill.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θɪsl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsəl

Noun

thistle (plural thistles)

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.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:18:

     Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field [...].

   • 2006, Joanna Newsom (lyrics and music), “Sawdust and Diamonds”, in Ys‎^[1]:

     I wasn’t born of a whistle, or milked from a thistle at twilight / No; I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright

2. This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
3. (heraldry) This plant used as a charge.
4. The Order of the Thistle, or membership thereof.
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 324:

     Here's a passage which will please you: ‘It is said that when rich he twice refused the thistle.’

Derived terms

• artichoke thistle
• blessed milk thistle (Silybum marianum)
• blessed thistle
• bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
• Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense)
• carline thistle (Carlina spp. et al.)
• common sow thistle
• corn thistle (Cirsium arvense)
• cotton thistle (Onopordum acanthium)
• creeping thistle
• dwarf thistle
• edible thistle
• European swamp thistle
• fuller's thistle
• globe thistle (Echinops spp.)
• golden thistle
• hedgehog thistle
• Indian thistle
• Italian thistle
• Kansas thistle
• Marian thistle (Silybum marianum)
• marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre)
• Mary thistle (Silybum marianum)
• Mediterranean milk thistle (Silybum marianum)
• melancholy thistle
• milk thistle
• musk thistle
• nodding thistle
• pasture thistle
• pine thistle
• plumed thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
• Plymouth thistle
• roadside thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
• Russian thistle (Salsola tragus, Salsola australis)
• Saint Mary's thistle (Silybum marianum)
• Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium et al.)
• shore thistle
• soldier thistle
• sow-thistle
• sow thistle (Cicerbita spp., Sonchus spp.)
• spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
• star-thistle
• star thistle
• starthistle (Centaurea spp')
• stemless thistle
• tall thistle
• thistle butterfly (Vanessa spp.)
• thistle button
• thistle crown
• thistledown
• thistlefinch
• thistle funnel
• thistle sage
• thistle tube
• thistly
• tumble thistle
• variegated thistle (Silybum marianum)
• Watling Street thistle
• way thistle
• wood-thistle
• yellow thistle

 

Translations

plant

• Albanian: gjembaç (sq) m, rrëfeshk (sq) m, ferreckë (sq) f, gjemb gomari m
• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: شوك m (šūk)

• Armenian: տատասկափուշ (hy) (tataskapʻuš), ուղտափուշ (hy) (uġtapʻuš), տատասկ (hy) (tatask)
• Basque: kardu
• Belarusian: чартапало́х m (čartapalóx)
• Bulgarian: магарешки бодил (magareški bodil)
• Catalan: card (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 薊／蓟 (zh) (jì)

• Cornish: (collective) askal, askallen f
• Czech: bodlák (cs) m
• Danish: tidsel (da) c
• Dutch: distel (nl) m
• Esperanto: kardo
• Estonian: takjas (et)
• Finnish: ohdake (fi), takiainen (fi)
• French: chardon (fr) m
• Galician: cardo (gl) m, cardio m, toba (gl) f, arzola f, melardo m
• German: Distel (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌼 f (wigadeinōm) (dative plural; lemma uncertain)
• Greek: γαϊδουράγκαθο (el) n (gaïdourágkatho)

  Ancient: βαρακίνη f (barakínē)

• Hebrew: קוֹץ (he) m (qotz)
• Hungarian: bogáncs (hu)
• Ido: kardono (io)
• Ingrian: ohtajain
• Irish: feochadán m, cluarán m
• Italian: cardo (it) m
• Japanese: 薊 (ja) (あざみ, azami), アザミ (ja) (azami)
• Korean: 엉겅퀴 (eonggeongkwi)
• Latgalian: usne
• Latin: carduus m
• Latvian: usne f
• Lithuanian: usnis
• Luxembourgish: Dëschtel f
• Manx: onnane f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tistel m

  Nynorsk: tistel m

• Old Church Slavonic: влъчьць m (vlŭčĭcĭ)
• Pennsylvania German: Dischdel f
• Persian: کنگر (fa) (kangar)
• Plautdietsch: Distel m
• Polish: oset (pl) m, bodiak m (Lviv)
• Portuguese: cardo (pt) m
• Romanian: scaiete (ro) m, ciulin (ro) m
• Russian: чертополо́х (ru) m (čertopolóx)
• Scots: thrissel
• Scottish Gaelic: cluaran m, fòghnan m
• Sicilian: cardu m, carduni m
• Slovak: bodliak m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wóset m, badak m

• Spanish: cardo (es) m
• Swedish: tistel (sv) c
• Tagalog: pamingkit
• Turkish: devedikeni (tr)
• Ukrainian: осо́т m (osót), чортополо́х m (čortopolóx)
• Vilamovian: döstuł f
• Walloon: tcherdon (wa) m
• Welsh: ysgall f pl
• Xhosa: ikhakhakhaka
• Yurok: munipɹni

References

• “thistle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “thistle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Hittles, Lettish, listeth, lithest, shittle