spiky

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspaɪki/

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• Rhymes: -aɪki

From spike (“kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis”) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense “having the quality of”).^[1][2] Spike is derived from Middle English spik, spike (“ear of grain; clove of garlic; plant having spikes; plant of the genus Valeriana, especially Valeriana officinalis; plant of the genus Lavandula, lavender”),^[3] from Latin spīca (“ear, head, or spike of grain; plant spike”) (feminine) (also rarely spīcum (neuter) and spīcus (masculine)),^[4] possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“long; sharp; thin”).

spiky (not generally comparable, comparative spikier or more spiky, superlative spikiest or most spiky) (botany)

2. (not comparable) Of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”).
   • 1828 December, T. A., “‘Buy a Broom?’. Chapter I.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXIV, part I, number CXLVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 711, column 2:

     [T]he harvest maids began to look knowingly to their partners, who, taking the hint, sprang to their feet, hauled up their sweet abettors, were mated in a moment, and commenced a dance among the stubble, so brisk, that the tall harvest of spiky wheat, standing by, rustled and nodded to them on its golden rods.

   • 1884 June 13, “Hay Fever”, in The Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day to Day: […], volume XXXII, number 820, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 11, column 2:

     [T]he irritation [hay fever] has generally been ascribed rather to the odour of sweet-vernal-grass and scented holcus than to the distinctive action of the pollen itself. The latter species is unknown in English meadows, but sweet-vernal-grass is familiar to most of us as the peculiar spiky plant to which new-mown hay owes with us the whole of its delicious fragrance.

     Originally published in The Pall Mall Gazette (10 June 1884), page 4, column 1.

3. (comparable) Of a plant part: resembling a spike of a plant (see above).
   • 1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Plantayne or Waybrede”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Sundry Sortes of Herbes and Plantes), page 91:

     Of this kinde, there is founde an other, the Spikes, eares, or torches wherof, are very dubble, ſo as in euery Spyky eare, in ſteede of the little knappes or heades, it bringeth forth a number of other ſmal torches, wherof eche one is lyke to the ſpike or torch of great Plantayne. […] The ſtalkes [of the third kind of plaintain] be creſted or ſtraked, and beare at the toppe fayre ſpiked knappes with white floures or bloſſoms, like the ſpykie knoppes of the middle Plantayne.

   • 1652, Nich[olas] Culpeper, “Bucks-horn Plantane”, in The English Physitian: Or An Astrologo-physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of This Nation. […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC, page 22, column 2:

     [D]iverſ hairy Stalks, about a hand breadth high, bearing every one a ſmall long ſpiky Head like to thoſe of the common Plantane, having ſuch like Bloomings and Seed after them.

Uses of the word are difficult to distinguish from etymology 2, sense 2 (“resembling spikes, spikelike”).^[2]

• spikelet

From spike (“piece of pointed metal, etc.”) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense “having the quality of”).^[1][5] Spike is derived from Middle English spik, spike (“large metal (usually iron) nail; thing shaped like such a nail”);^[6] further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Dutch spiker (“large nail”), Middle Low German spiker (“large nail”), or Old Norse spík (“spike; sprig”), all possibly from Latin spīca (“ear, head, or spike of grain; plant spike”) (see further at etymology 1),^[7] or from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“large nail, spike”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“long; sharp; thin”).

spiky (comparative spikier or more spiky, superlative spikiest or most spiky)

2. Having one or more spikes; spiny.
   • 1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume V, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 222, lines 585–586:

     The ſpiky VVheels thro' Heaps of Carnage tore; / And thick the groaning Axles dropp'd vvith Gore.

   • 2016, Darren Naish, Paul Barrett, “Biology, Ecology and Behaviour”, in Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved, London: Natural History Museum; Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, →ISBN, image caption, page 170:

     Three ornithischian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America may be growth stages of the same one species. Dracorex is smallest and spikiest. Stygimoloch is medium-sized and has the longest horns. Pachycephalosaurus is the biggest and also the least spikiest, but it has the largest, thickest dome.

4. Resembling spikes: erect and having sharp points; spikelike.
   • 1810, William Wordsworth, “Topographical Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England”, in The River Duddon: A Series of Sonnets: Vaudracour and Julia; and Other Poems. […], London: […] [Andrew and Robert Spottiswoode] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, […], published 1820, →OCLC, pages 299–300:

     [I]f ten thousand of this spiky tree, the larch, are stuck in at once upon the side of a hill, they can grow up into nothing but deformity; […]

     First published as the introduction in Joseph Wilkinson, Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire (1810).

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, “Five Years Later”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book II (The Golden Thread), page 35:

     At first, he slept heavily, but, by degrees, began to roll and surge in bed, until he rose above the surface, with his spiky hair looking as if it must tear the sheets to ribbons.

   • 1895, Walter Besant, “The Equal Woman”, in In Deacon’s Orders etc., London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, section II, page 126:

     Then he felt, not another crumpled rose, but a thorn; a dozen spiky thorns sticking into him in the most cruel manner.

   • 1996, David Graddol, “English Manuscripts: The Emergence of a Visual Identity”, in David Graddol, Dick Leith, Joan Swann, editors, English: History, Diversity and Change, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge in association with the Open University, →ISBN, page 70:

     We see here how habits of handwriting continued to be stratified by social class and gender. Roundness, as with earlier secretary hand, was a signifier of trade – a spikier hand was regarded as more fitting for young ladies' personal letter writing.

5. (figurative)
   1. Of a person or their nature: difficult to deal with; abrasive, hostile, unfriendly.

      Synonyms: prickly, thorny

      a spiky personality

   2. Of a thing: not smooth; rough, sharp.
      • 1988 April 16, Jim Fauntleroy, “Intimate Entertainment: A Playful Evening with Romanovsky and Phillips”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 38, Boston, Mass.: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 4:

        It started with Ron [Phillips] soloing on "He Wasn't Talking to Me," a quiet and wistful ballad that segued into the upbeat and spiky "Give Me a Man Who's Glad to Be Gay." This was a pride anthem about being gay with a few nudges at those carrying their closets with them to the bars (Straight looking marine seeks/straight looking cop to please/How straight can they look/when they're down on their knees?).

   3. (Anglicanism, derogatory, slang) Excessively high church (“practising a formal style of liturgy and emphasizing continuity with Catholicism”).
      • 2022 January, Simon Knott, “All Saints, Litcham”, in norfolkchurches.co.uk‎^[1]:

        I wondered if this meant he was a spiky Anglo-Catholic, which seemed a little unlikely, given that Norfolk's spiky hotspots are well-known.

      • 2019 January 4, Graham James, “Diary: Graham James”, in Church Times‎^[2]:

        That was when pink gin was still a favoured drink among Anglo-Catholics, and no self-respecting spiky curate could be without it.

• spikey

• spike (“excessively high church Anglican”)
• spikily
• spikiness

• kipsy, pisky