thistle

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old English þistel, from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz. *þīh- from *teyg-, which is a variant of Proto-Indo-European *steyg- (“to prick”); from this same Proto-Indo-European root comes English stick. Cognates include German Distel and Icelandic þistill.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• 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, King James Version of the Bible (Authorized Version)^[1], Genesis 3:18:

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

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

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

Derived terms

• blessed thistle
• bull thistle
• Canada thistle
• carline thistle
• globe thistle
• marsh thistle
• milk thistle
• Russian thistle
• sow thistle
• spear thistle
• star thistle
• thistle butterfly
• thistledown

Translations

plant

• Belarusian: чартапалох (be) (čartapalóx) m
• Catalan: card (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 薊 (cmn), 蓟 (cmn) (jì)

• Czech: bodlák (cs) m
• Danish: tidsel (da)
• Dutch: distel (nl) m
• Esperanto: kardo (eo)
• Estonian: takjas (et)
• Finnish: ohdake (fi), takiainen (fi)
• French: chardon (fr) m
• German: Distel (de) f
• Greek: γαϊδουράγκαθο (el) (gaïdourágkatho) n
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: bogáncs (hu)
• Ido: cardono (io)
• Irish: feochadán (ga) m

• Italian: cardo (it) m
• Japanese: 薊 (ja) (あざみ, azami), アザミ (ja) (azami)
• Korean: 엉겅퀴 (ko) (eonggeongkwi)
• Latin: carduus (la) m
• Luxembourgish: Dëschtel (lb) f
• Norwegian: tistel (no)
• Polish: oset (pl) m
• Romanian: scălete (ro) m
• Russian: чертополох (ru) (čertopolóx) m
• Scots: thrissel
• Scottish Gaelic: cluaran (gd) m, fòghnan (gd) m
• Slovak: bodliak (sk) m
• Spanish: cardo (es) m
• Swedish: tistel (sv)
• Turkish: devedikeni (tr)
• Ukrainian: чортополох (uk) (čortopolóx) m
• Vilamovian: döstuł f

References

• thistle in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• thistle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• Lettish
• listeth
• lithest
• shittle