thorn
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /θɔːn/
ipa: /θoɹn/
ipa: [θo̞ɹn]
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n
note: rhotic
ipa: /θɔːɹn/
note: non-rhotic
ipa: /θɔːn/
Forms: form: thorns
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”).
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”).
Senses: topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: A modified branch that is hard and sharp like a spike.
examples: text: On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.
ref: 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:
glosses: Any thorn-like structure on plants, such as the spine and the prickle.
examples: text: the white thorn
text: the cockspur thorn
glosses: Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
examples: text: There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 12:7:
text: The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares, / Be only mine.
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
glosses: That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
examples: text: In Old English manuscripts thorn and eth did not have different phonetic values but were used positionally[.]
ref: 1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 175:
text: See also Etymology of ye (definite article).
glosses: 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).
Derived terms: word: bastard umbrella thorn
word: blackthorn
word: boxthorn
word: buckthorn
word: buffalo thorn
word: camelthorn
word: Christ's thorn
word: crucifixion thorn
word: desert-thorn
word: Egyptian thorn
word: every rose has a thorn
word: every rose has its thorn
word: fairy thorn
word: firethorn
word: garland thorn
word: giraffe thorn
word: Glastonbury thorn
word: goat's thorn
word: hookthorn
word: Jerusalem thorn
word: Karoo thorn
word: knobthorn
word: maythorn
word: monkey thorn
word: Mysore thorn
word: no rose without a thorn
word: Osage thorn
word: sandthorn
word: September thorn
word: sweet thorn
word: thorn apple
word: thorn-apple crystal
word: thornback
word: thornbill
word: thornbird
taxonomic: Calicotome spp.
word: thorn broom
word: thornbush
word: thorn cluster
taxonomic: Moloch horridus
word: thorn devil
word: thornen
word: thornery
word: thornfish
word: thorn forest
word: thornhead
word: thornhog
taxonomic: Centrotus cornutus
word: thorn hopper
word: thorn in one's side
word: thorn in someone's side
word: thorn in the flesh
word: thornless
word: thornlet
word: thornlike
word: thornproof
word: thorntail
word: Thornton
word: thorn-tree
word: thorn tree
word: thornveld
word: thorny
word: umbrella thorn
word: whitethorn
word: yellowthorn