# thorn
## English
### Etymology

From 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”).
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”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /θɔːn/
** Audio (UK):(file)
* (US) IPA: /θoɹn/, [θo̞ɹn]
** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n
* (without the horse–hoarse merger)
** (rhotic) IPA: /θɔːɹn/
** (non-rhotic) IPA: /θɔːn/

### Noun

thorn (plural thorns)
* (botany) A sharp protective spine of a plant.
** 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 22: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
* (figurative) That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 12:7:There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.
** 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: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 English did not have phonemic voicing distinctions for fricatives).
** 1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 175:In Old English manuscripts thorn and eth did not have different phonetic values but were used positionally[.]
** See also Etymology of ye (definite article).

#### Derived terms

* bastard umbrella thorn
* blackthorn
* boxthorn
* buckthorn
* buffalo thorn
* camelthorn
* Christ's thorn
* crucifixion thorn
* desert-thorn
* Egyptian thorn
* every rose has a thorn
* every rose has its thorn
* fairy thorn
* firethorn
* garland thorn
* giraffe thorn
* Glastonbury thorn
* goat's thorn
* hookthorn
* Jerusalem thorn
* Karoo thorn
* knobthorn
* maythorn
* monkey thorn
* Mysore thorn
* no rose without a thorn
* sandthorn
* September thorn
* sweet thorn
* thorn apple
* thorn-apple crystal
* thornback
* thornbill
* thornbird
* thorn broom (Calicotome spp.)
* thornbush
* thorn cluster
* thorn devil (Moloch horridus)
* thornen
* thornery
* thornfish
* thorn forest
* thornhead
* thornhog
* thorn hopper (Centrotus cornutus)
* thorn in one's side
* thorn in someone's side
* thorn in the flesh
* thornless
* thornlet
* thornlike
* thornproof
* thorntail
* Thornton
* thorn tree
* thorn-tree
* thornveld
* thorny
* umbrella thorn
* whitethorn
* yellowthorn

#### Translations

Abaza: мгъы (mɣə)
Afar: keena
Afrikaans: doring
Albanian: ferrë (sq) , therr (sq)
Arabic: أَسَلَة f (ʔasala), شَوْكَة (šawka)
Egyptian Arabic: شوك m (šōk) (collective), شوكة f (šōka) (singulative)
Archi: цац (cac)
Armenian: փուշ (hy) (pʻuš)
Aromanian: schin
Assamese: কাঁইট (kãit), কঁটা (kõta)
Avar: заз (zaz)
Aymara: ch'aphi
Azerbaijani: tikan (az)
Basque: arantza, elorri
Bengali: please add this translation if you can
Bhojpuri: please add this translation if you can
Bikol Central: tunok (bcl)
Bulgarian: трън (bg) m (trǎn), бодил (bg) m (bodil)
Burmese: ဆူး (my) (hcu:)
Catalan: aculi (ca), espina (ca), eculi (ca), agulló (ca), fibló (ca)
Cebuano: tunok
Central Melanau: duwei
Chamicuro: kajpayi
Chinese:
Mandarin: 刺 (zh) (cì), 荊棘 / 荆棘 (zh) (jīngjí)
Cornish: dren m
Crimean Tatar: tiken (northern dialect tegenek)
Czech: trn (cs) m, osten
Dalmatian: spaina f
Danish: torn (da) c
Dutch: doorn (nl) m
Egyptian: (srt f)
Esperanto: dorno
Estonian: astel, okas, oga (et)
Faroese: tornur m, torn f
Finnish: piikki (fi), oka (fi), ora (fi), ota (fi), oas (fi)
French: épine (fr) f
Friulian: spine f, spin
Galician: espiña (gl) f, sevia f, áscura f, espunlla f, puga f
Georgian: ეკალი (eḳali)
German: Dorn (de) m
Greek: αγκάθι (el) n (agkáthi)
Ancient: ἄκανθα f (ákantha)
Hawaiian: kākala
Hebrew: שַׁיִת (he) m (shayit), קֹוץ (he) m (kotz)
Higaonon: dugi
Hiligaynon: tunok
Hindi: काँटा (hi) m (kā̃ṭā)
Hungarian: tüske (hu), tövis (hu)
Indonesian: duri (id)
Irish: dealg f
Italian: spina (it) f, aculeo (it)
Japanese: 刺 (ja) (とげ, toge, いら, ira), 棘 (ja) (とげ, toge), 茨 (ja) (とげ, toge), 荊 (ja) (とげ, toge)
Jarai: drơi
Javanese: ꦲꦼꦫꦶ (jv) (eri)
Kamkata-vari:
Kamviri: taňí
Kata-vari: taí
Khmer: បន្លា (km) (bɑnlaa)
Kikuyu: mũigua class 3
Korean: 가시 (ko) (gasi)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: دِڕوو (dirrû)
Laki: دِڕک (ku) (dirrk)
Northern Kurdish: strî (ku), dirrî (ku)
Southern Kurdish: دِڕِگ (dirrig)
Lao: ໜາມ (nām)
Latgalian: ierškiezs m
Latin: spīna f
Latvian: ērkšķis m, dzelonis (lv) m
Lezgi: цаз (caz)
Lithuanian: rakis
Low German: Doorn m
Luhya: kumwiva
Macedonian: трн m (trn)
Malay: duri (ms)
Manchu: ᠪᡠᠯᠠ (bula), ᠰᠠᡳᡥᡡᠸᠠ (saihūwa)
Maori: tara, ngita
Marathi: कंटक m (kaṇṭak), काटा m (kāṭā)
Maranao: tenek
Mon: ဓလ (həlɛ̀ˀ)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Ngazidja Comorian: shiɓa class 7/8
North Frisian: Tuurn m (Sylt)
Northern Thai: ᩉ᩠ᨶᩣ᩠ᨾ
Norwegian:
Bokmål: torn (no) m
Nynorsk: torn m
Occitan: espina (oc) f
Old English: þorn m
Old Javanese: duri, rwi
Ottoman Turkish: دیكن (diken)
Paiwan: djui
Pashto: اغزی (ps) m (aγzai)
Persian: خار (fa) (xâr), غاژ (fa) (ğaž)
Polabian: dren m
Polish: kolec (pl) m, cierń (pl) m
Portuguese: espinho (pt), acúleo (pt)
Quechua: t'uksi, kichka (qu), kaşa
Romanian: spin (ro), ghimpe (ro)
Romansch: spina f, spegna f
Russian: шип (ru) m (šip), колю́чка (ru) f (koljúčka)
Saho: keena
Samoan: tala
Sanskrit: कण्टक (sa) m or n (kaṇṭaka)
Sardinian: ispina f, spina f
Scottish Gaelic: stob m, droigheann m, dealg f
Serbo-Croatian: trn (sh) m
Slovak: tŕň (sk) m, pichliač m, osteň m
Somali: qodax (so)
Spanish: espina (es) f, puncha (es) f, pincha (es) f, aguate / ahuate / afate / guate m (small), ajuate / uguate / huate m (small, Americanism)
Sundanese: rucuk
Swahili: mwiba (sw) class 3/4
Swedish: törne (sv) c, torn (sv) n
Sylheti: please add this translation if you can
Tagalog: tinik
Tahitian: tara
Tausug: tunuk
Telugu: ముల్లు (te) (mullu), కంటకము (te) (kaṇṭakamu)
Thai: หนาม (th) (nǎam)
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Tongan: tala
Turkish: diken (tr)
Ukrainian: колю́чка f (koljúčka)
Urdu: کانٹا m (kā̃ṭā)
Vietnamese: gai (vi)
Welsh: draenen f
West Frisian: toarne c
Western Bukidnon Manobo: duɣi
Yiddish: דאָרן m (dorn)
Zande: kiwe
Zyphe: hling
ǃXóõ: gǃqhàẽ :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

thorn (third-person singular simple present thorns, present participle thorning, simple past and past participle thorned)
* To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).
** 1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks‎:[…] human nature is, above all things, lazy, and needs to be thorned and goaded up those heights where it ought to fly.
** 2003, Scott D. Zachary, Scorn This, page 175:Even Judge Bradley's callused sentiments were thorned by the narration of Jaclyn's journals.

#### Translations
### See also

* eth, edh, eð, ð
* wynn, wen, ƿ
* ᚦ

### Further reading

* thorn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Thorns, spines, and prickles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Thorn (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* North, Rt Hon, Rt. Hon., north

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* thorne, thron, thurne, þorn, þorne, þron

### Etymology

Inherited from Old English þorn, from Proto-West Germanic *þorn, from Proto-Germanic *þurnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥nós.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θɔrn/, /θoːrn/, /θrɔn/

### Noun

thorn (plural thornes)
* A thorn (spine on a plant with a sharp point)
* Thorn or eth (the letter þ and/or ð)
* A plant having thorns, especially the hawthorn or rosebush.
* (rare) Thorns pulled from the ground for burning.
* (rare) A dish incorporating hawthorn.

#### Derived terms

* hawthorn
* thevethorn
* thornbak
* thornen
* thornetre
* thorny

#### Descendants

* English: thorn
* Scots: thorn; torn (Shetland)
* Yola: thoornes, thorns, thurns

#### References

* “thorn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

## Old Dutch
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *þurnu, *þorn from Proto-Germanic *þurnuz, *þurnaz.

### Noun

thorn m
* thorn, spine of a plant

#### Descendants

* Middle Dutch: dorn, dōorn, dōren
** Dutch: doren, doorn
*** Afrikaans: doring
*** Negerhollands: dorn, doorn

### References

* “thorn”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

## Old Saxon
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *þornu (“thorn, sloe”).
Germanic cognates include Old English þorn (English thorn), Dutch doorn, Old High German thorn (German Dorn), Old Norse þorn (Swedish törne), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌿𐍃 (þaurnus). The Indo-European root is also the source of Old Church Slavonic трънъ (trŭnŭ) (Russian тёрн (tjorn, “sloe, blackthorn”)), Sanskrit तृण (tṛṇa, “grass”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θɔrn/

### Noun

thorn m
* thorn; thorny bush

#### Descendants

* Middle Low German: dōrn
** German Low German: Däörn, Doorn, Dorn, Durn