thistle

Thistle comes from Middle English thistel, from Old English þistel, from Proto-West Germanic *þistil, from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz. That in turn traces to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to prick," *(s)teyg-.

The word has stayed remarkably steady in form and meaning across its Germanic history, always naming the same spiny plant.

The English word stick comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to prick," making it a distant relative of thistle. Cognates in other Germanic languages include Scots thrissel, German Distel, Dutch distel, and Old Norse/Icelandic þistill.