the.com/prickle
the tingle that arrives just before your skin admits it's afraid.
means A prickle is a small sharp point on a plant or animal, or the tingling, stinging sensation of many such tiny pricks on the skin.
from From Old English 'pricel,' a little instrument for pricking — itself built from 'prician,' to pierce or puncture. The same root gives us 'prick' and stands beside Dutch 'prikkel' and Low German 'prickel,' all describing small jabbing things. The bodily sense — that creeping tingle 'pricking' the skin — grew naturally from the picture of countless tiny needles, the way a thornbush or a cold sweat makes the flesh feel stippled with points.
- collective noun
- a group of porcupines is called a prickle
- hair physics
- goosebumps raise hairs via tiny arrector pili muscles
- plant trick
- true prickles grow from skin, unlike anchored thorns
- pins and needles
- caused by pressured nerves, not poor blood flow
- word age
- derives from Old English pricel, meaning sharp point
hedgehog spines — sharp keratin structures covering hedgehogs, with 5,000-7,000 spines per animal
sea urchin spines — calcium carbonate spines covering sea urchins, some species with venomous tips in tropical waters
porcupine quills — modified hairs with 30,000+ quills on north american porcupines, barbed and easily detached