- prickle
- O.E. pricel "thing to prick with," from the same source as O.E. prician (see prick) with W.Gmc. instrumental suffix *-islja (cf. M.L.G. prickel, Du. prikkel). Prickly "spiny, armed with prickles" is from 1578 (originally of holly leaves); fig. sense of "irritable" first recorded 1862. Prickly heat is from 1736, so called for the sensation; prickly pear is from 1760.