| 棘 | jí | thorns |
| 棘轮 | jí lún | ratchet |
| 棘手 | jí shǒu | thorny (problem); intractable |
| 棘楚 | jí chǔ | thorny problem; troublesome affair |
| 棘皮动物 | jí pí dòng wù | echinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc |
| 棘鼻青岛龙 | jí bí Qīng dǎo lóng | Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, a 10 meter long hadrosaur with a single horn on its duck-billed snout |
| 沙棘属 | shā jí shǔ | Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae L.) |
| 荆棘 | jīng jí | thistles and thorns; brambles; thorny undergrowth |
| 荆棘载途 | jīng jí zài tú | lit. a path covered in brambles; a course of action beset by difficulties (idiom) |
| 食荼卧棘 | shí tú wò jí | to eat bitter fruit and lie on thorns (idiom); to share the hard life of the common people |