/θɔːn/, /θoɹn/, [θo̞ɹn]
OriginFrom Middle English thorn, þorn, from Old English þorn, from Proto-West Germanic *þorn, from Proto-Germanic *þurnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥nós, from *(s)ter- (“stiff”).
Cognates
Near cognates include West Frisian toarn, Low German Doorn, Dutch doorn, German Dorn, Danish and Norwegian torn, Swedish torn, törne, Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌿𐍃 (þaurnus). Further cognates include Old Church Slavonic трънъ (trŭnŭ, “thorn”), Russian тёрн (tjorn), Polish cierń, Kamkata-viri taňi, tai (“thorn”), Sanskrit तृण (tṛ́ṇa, “grass”).
- A modified branch that is hard and sharp like a spike.
- Any thorn-like structure on plants, such as the spine and the prickle.
“On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.”
- Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
“the white thorn”
“the cockspur thorn”
- figurativelyThat which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
“There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”
“The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares, / Be only mine.”
- A letter of Latin script (capital: Þ, small: þ), borrowed from the futhark; today used only in Icelandic to represent the voiceless dental fricative, but originally used in several early Germanic scripts, including Old English where it represented the dental fricatives that are today written th (Old…
“In Old English manuscripts thorn and eth did not have different phonetic values but were used positionally[.]”
“See also Etymology of ye (definite article).”
- To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).
“[…] human nature is, above all things, lazy, and needs to be thorned and goaded up those heights where it ought to fly.”
“Even Judge Bradley's callused sentiments were thorned by the narration of Jaclyn's journals.”
- A topographic surname from Middle English for someone living near a thorn bush.
- A hamlet in Houghton Regis parish, Central Bedfordshire district, Bedfordshire, England (OS grid ref TL0024).
- A village in Maasgouw municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands.
- An unincorporated community in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States.
- Former name of Whitethorn, Humboldt County, California.
Formsthorns(plural) · thorns(present, singular, third-person) · thorning(participle, present) · thorned(participle, past) · thorned(past) · Thorne(alternative)