thistle
/θɪsl̩/
thistle noun: any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
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.
- Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field [...].1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:18
- 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 upright2006, Joanna Newsom, “Sawdust and Diamonds”, in Ys
- This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
- An image of this plant used as a charge.
- The Order of the Thistle, or membership thereof.
- Here's a passage which will please you: ‘It is said that when rich he twice refused the thistle.’1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 324
Proper noun capitalized: Thistle
Thistle (plural Thistles)
- A surname.
thistle meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
thistle in Hindi
- थिसल
thistle in Urdu
- خار
thistle in Bengali
- থিস্টেল, থিস্টল, থিসল
thistle in Telugu
- తిస్టిల్
More languagesFewer languages
- thistle in Kannada
- ದತ್ತೂರಿ, ಉಮ್ಮತ್ತಿ, ಊದಾಬಣ್ಣದ ಹೂವಿನ ಮುಳ್ಳುಗಿಡ
- thistle in Punjabi
- ਥਿਸਲ
- thistle in Gujarati
- થિસલ, થીસ્લ, થિસ્ટલ
- thistle in Odia
- ଥିସ୍ଲ୍, ଥିସଲ୍, ଥିସ୍ଟଲ୍
- thistle in Nepali
- थिसल, थिस्टल, थिस्ल
- thistle in Tagalog
- pamingkit
- thistle in Persian
- کنگر kangar
Examples of thistle in a sentence
- A bird tweeped and twittered on a thistle by the side of the trail.
- Burdocks, thistles, dwarf oaks, cottonweed, chalky holes and whitish puddles everywhere.
- Ground cover of perennial grasses declined seriously under plots covered overwinter with dead thistle plants.
Forms of thistle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | thistles |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Thistles |
Origin of thistle
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.
English surname from the noun thistle. Anglicized sources include German Distel and Norwegian Tistel (see tistel).
Words formed from thistle
- artichoke thistle
- blessed milk thistle
- blessed thistle
- bull thistle
- burr thistle
- Canada thistle
- carline thistle
- common sow thistle
- corn thistle
- cotton thistle
- creeping thistle
- curly plumeless thistle
- dwarf thistle
- edible thistle
- European swamp thistle
- fuller's thistle
- globe thistle
- golden thistle
- hare's thistle
- hedgehog thistle
- Indian thistle
- Italian thistle
- Kansas thistle
- Marian thistle
- marsh thistle
- Mary thistle
- Mediterranean milk thistle
- melancholy thistle
- milk thistle
- musk thistle
- nodding thistle
- pasture thistle
- pine thistle
- plumed thistle
- Plymouth thistle
- roadside thistle
- Russian thistle
- saffron thistle
- Saint Mary's thistle
- Scotch thistle
- shore thistle
- silver thistle
- slough thistle
- soldier thistle
- sow-thistle
- sow thistle
- spear thistle
- star thistle
- star-thistle
- starthistle
- stemless thistle
- tall thistle
- thistleball
- thistle bird
- thistle butterfly
- thistle button
- thistle crown
- thistled
- thistledown
- thistlefinch
Phrases with thistle
- way thistle
- thistle sage
- thistle tube
- thistle tubes
- thistle crowns
- thistle funnel
- tumble thistle
- welted thistle
- yellow thistle
- thistle buttons
- thistle funnels
- thistle butterflies
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with thistle
Questions about thistle
- What does thistle mean?
- Thistle means any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
- What is thistle in Hindi?
- Thistle in Hindi is थिसल. See Thistle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is thistle?
- Thistle can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce thistle?
- Thistle is pronounced /θɪsl̩/.
- What is the plural of thistle?
- The plural of thistle is thistles.
Words near thistle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thistle (page history and authors); Thistle (page history and authors); thistle (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thistle (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thistle (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); thistle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-thistle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “thistle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thistle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.