prickly vs sibilant

prickly

noun
  • Something that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object. 

adj
  • Covered with sharp points. 

  • Easily irritated. 

  • Difficult; complicated; hairy or thorny. 

adv
  • In a prickly manner. 

sibilant

noun
  • A consonant having a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack. 

adj
  • Characterized by a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack. 

How often have the words prickly and sibilant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )