horn

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
2. (countable, uncountable) Any similar real or imaginary growth or projection such as the elongated tusk of a narwhal, the eyestalk of a snail, the pointed growth on the nose of a rhinoceros, or the hornlike projection on the head of a demon or similar.
3. (countable, uncountable) An antler.
4. (uncountable) The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.
5. (countable, uncountable) A vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc.
6. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
7. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
8. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
9. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
10. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
11. (countable, uncountable) An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
12. (countable) Any of several musical wind instruments.
13. (countable) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.
14. (countable) A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
15. (countable, uncountable) A sound signaling the expiration of time.
16. (countable) A conical device used to direct waves.
17. (countable, informal) Generally, any brass wind instrument.
18. (countable, slang) A telephone.
19. (countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar, with-definite-article) An erection of the penis.
20. (countable) A peninsula or projecting tract of land.
21. (countable) A diacritical mark that may be attached to the top right corner of the letters o and u when writing in Vietnamese, thus forming ơ and ư.
22. (countable, uncountable) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
23. (countable, uncountable) In naval mine warfare, a projection from the mine shell of some contact mines which, when broken or bent by contact, causes the mine to fire.

Verb

1. (transitive) To assault with the horns.
2. (transitive) To furnish with horns.
3. (obsolete, slang, transitive) To cuckold.
4. (India, Singapore, intransitive) To sound the horn of a motor vehicle; to honk.

Synonyms

trumpet

🎺

bugle

antler

hooter

klaxon

corner

whistle

tusk

cornet

siren

French horn

antlers

gore

butt

trump

clarion

wind instrument

ear

👂

drink

🥤

brass

car horn

cuckold

alarm

elbow

harmonica

honk

hoot

horns

horny

hunting horn

ivory

jewelry

pipe

ram

🐏

signal

saddle horn

cornu

automobile horn

motor horn

bick iron

keratoid

corneous

loudspeaker

📢

noisemaker

signal alarm

feed-horn

sap

sax

saxhorn

saxophone

🎷

Translations

corne

Horn

corno

cuerno

hoorn

cor

corno

cornu

avertisseur

⚠️

Hupe

chifre

trompa

banya

κέρατο

Pronounced as (IPA)

/hɔːn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: horn, horne

Inherited from Old English: horn

Cognate with Western Frisian: hoarn

Cognate with Dutch: hoorn

Cognate with Low German: Hoorn

Cognate with German: Horn

Cognate with Danish: -

Cognate with Swedish: horn

Cognate with Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽

Cognate with Breton: kern

Cognate with Latin: cornū

Cognate with Ancient Greek: κέρας

Cognate with Church Slavic: сьрна

Cognate with Hittite:

Cognate with Persian: سر

Cognate with Sanskrit: शृङ्ग

In summary

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”). Doublet of corn (“callus”), corno, and cornu.
(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.