Term
thyrse
One syllable, five letters, three of them unexpected. Thyrse rhymes with verse and looks like nothing of the kind.
Greek thyrsos was the ivy-wreathed staff carried in the rites of Dionysus, a pole with a dense cluster at the top, which is the shape botany borrowed it for. Latin made it thyrsus and French shortened it to thyrse. The y is Greek upsilon, the th is theta, and the final e is French and silent.
- Say
- THURSS, rhyming with verse
- Letters
- T-H-Y-R-S-E
- Root
- Greek thyrsos, via Latin thyrsus, the ivy-wreathed staff
- Meaning
- A thyrse is a compound inflorescence with an indeterminate main axis and determinate side branches, so the tip goes on growing while the laterals finish flowering. Lilac and horse chestnut carry thyrses. The longer form thyrsus is used too.
7 spellings people arrive at by ear
- tirsetwo changes at once
- thiersey doing the work of i
- thirsey doing the work of i
- thyrsa silent e
- tiersetwo changes at once
- theersetwo changes at once
- tyrsethe th