Akantha (G173) is a thorn or thorny plant. It appears in the parable of the sower (Mark 4:18 — seed choked by thorns), in Jesus' crown of thorns (akanthōn), and in figurative sayings about fruit-bearing. Thorns in the OT are connected to the curse of Genesis 3:18.
Akantha connects directly to the curse of Eden: 'Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you' (Genesis 3:18). Jesus wearing a crown of thorns is not accidental imagery — he bears the curse of the fallen creation in his body. The curse that thorns represent is absorbed into the head of the King. In Hosea 2:6, thorns are used to hem in Israel's waywardness — divine discipline through what sin produces.