thyrsus
/ˈθɜːsəs/
"thyrsus" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“thyrsus” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A staff topped with a conical ornament, carried by Bacchus or his followers.
Corpus desk
Index EN-thyrsus · thyrsus · English
thyrsus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | thyrsus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈθɜːsəs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “thyrsus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
thyrsus is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈθɜːsəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for thyrsus in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin thyrsus, from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos). Doublet of thyrse, torse, and torso. The correct English form is thyrsus, spelled T-H-Y-R-S-U-S.
Definition
- 1A staff topped with a conical ornament, carried by Bacchus or his followers.
- 2A species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how thyrsus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poet's Calendar In my hand I bear / The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.
As good to grow on graves / As twist about a thyrsus.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin thyrsus, from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos). Doublet of thyrse, torse, and torso.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.