spiky

Meaning

1. (not-comparable, usually) Of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”).
2. (comparable, not-comparable, usually) Of a plant part: resembling a spike of a plant (see above).

Synonyms

thorny

sharp

spiny

peaky

prickly

spiculate

barbed

pointed

acerbic

peaked

spicate

cuspidate

cutting

discriminative

fly

✈️

incisive

ingenious

jagged

keen

mordacious

mordant

peevish

perceptive

perspicacious

piercing

piked

pronged

acerb

quarrelsome

quick-witted

ready

salty

shrill

slick

smart

spicular

stiff

strident

tart

trenchant

acuate

fulgurating

cuspidated

cacuminous

pungent

acuminate

acute

apical

beaked

biting

Translations

puntiagudo

stachelig

αιχμηρός

acuminato

spitz

stachelförmig

spitzig

dornig

puntig

dornenartig

pontudo

stachlig

spitzblättrig

empfindlich

punxegut

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈspaɪki/

Etymology

From spike (“kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense “having the quality of”). Spike is derived from Middle English spik, spike (“ear of grain; clove of garlic; plant having spikes; plant of the genus Valeriana, especially Valeriana officinalis; plant of the genus Lavandula, lavender”), from Latin spīca (“ear, head, or spike of grain; plant spike”) (feminine) (also rarely spīcum (neuter) and spīcus (masculine)), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“long; sharp; thin”).