sticker
A thorn, prickle, or sharp plant spine that pokes you.
Also called sticker burr, sticker bush.
Updated September 24, 2026
sticker pronunciation
/STIK-ur/
Meaning
In rural Southern talk, a sticker is what gets in your foot when you cut across the pasture barefoot, or what scratches your arm in the blackberry patch. It can mean a thorn on a briar, or sometimes a clinging burr that rides home on your socks. Not the paper kind you peel off a roll. Related talk includes sticker bush for a thorny thicket and sticker burr for those hitchhiker seeds.
How folks use it
- “Hold up. I got a sticker in my heel.”
- “Don't cut through them briars or you'll be picking stickers out till supper.”
Origin and etymology
From stick, as in something that sticks into you. The Dictionary of American Regional English records sticker across the South and South Midland for thorns, prickles, spines, and sometimes burrs. Common in farm, yard, and woods talk wherever briars and sandburs wait for bare feet.
Frequently asked questions
Is a sticker the same as a burr?
Sometimes folks lump them together. Strictly, a sticker is often the thorn that pokes you, while a sticker burr is the seed that clings to clothes and dog fur.