# 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 Old Norse and Icelandic þistill.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θɪsl̩/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪsəl

### Noun

thistle (plural thistles)
* 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: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
* This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
* (heraldry) This plant used as a charge.
* 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
* curly plumeless 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
* slough 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
* welted thistle
* wood-thistle
* yellow thistle

#### Translations
### 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