A-căn’thă, n.

n. [Gr. ἄκανθα, thorn, spine, from ἀκή, point, and ἄνθος, shoot, flower.]

1. (Bot.) A prickle.
2. (Zool.) A spine or prickly fin. Encyc. Brit.
3. (Anat.) The vertebral column; the spinous process of a vertebra. Dunglison.