thyrsus

UK: /ˈθɜːsəs/ US: (thûr′səs)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

thyr•sus  (thûr′səs), n., pl. -si (-sī). 

1. Plant Biology [Bot.] a thyrse.
2. Antiquity [Gk. Antiq.] a staff tipped with a pine cone and sometimes twined with ivy and vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.

• Greek thýrsos Bacchic staff, stem of plant
• Latin
• 1585–95

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

thyrsus / ˈθɜːsəs/ noun ( -si / -saɪ/)

1. a staff, usually one tipped with a pine cone, borne by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his followers
2. a variant spelling of thyrse

Etymology: 18th Century: from Latin, from Greek thursos stalk

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

thyrse (thûrs), n. [Bot.]

1. Plant Biology a compact branching inflorescence, as of the lilac, in which the main axis is indeterminate and the lateral axes are determinate.

Also, thyrsus. 

• Latin thyrsus thyrsus
• French
• 1595–1605

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

thyrse / θɜːs/, thyrsus / ˈθɜːsəs/ noun (thyrses, thyrsi / ˈθɜːsaɪ/)

1. a type of inflorescence, occurring in the lilac and grape, in which the main branch is racemose and the lateral branches cymose

Etymology: 17th Century: from French: thyrsus