thistle

Meaning

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.

Synonyms

thorn

thorny plant

Carduus

prickle

spine

sticker

thisle

prickly plant

Onopordum

large-leaved

wild cabbage

bramble

radix cirsii jeponici

brier

bristle

Translations

cardo

Distel

cardo

chardon

distel

card

carduus

γαϊδουράγκαθο

Carduus

devedikeni

cardo

abrojo

Onopordum acanthium

Spanische Artischocke

Pronounced as (IPA)

/θɪsl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: thistel

Inherited from Old English: þistel

Cognate with English: stick

Cognate with Scots: thrissel

Cognate with German: Distel

Cognate with Dutch: distel

Cognate with Icelandic: þistill

In summary

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.