Mediterranean thistlelike plant widely cultivated for its large edible flower head
a thistlelike flower head with edible fleshy leaves and heart
A plant related to the thistle with enlarged flower heads eaten as a vegetable while immature, Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus.
The word artichoke comes from Andalusian Arabic, where it originally meant a specific type of thorny plant. It traveled through Old Spanish and Occitan before entering English via the Lombard dialect.