any of various plants of the Old World genus Sonchus, esp S. oleraceus, having milky juice, prickly leaves, and heads of yellow flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)
Also called: milk thistle or (NZ) puha or (NZ) rauriki
Word origin
C13: from sugethistel, perhaps variant of Old English thugethistel, thuthistel thowthistle, a dialect name of the sow thistle. See sow2, thistle