thorn

Meaning

Noun

1. A sharp protective spine of a plant.
2. Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
3. That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
4. 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).

Verb

To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).

Synonyms

prickle

spine

spike

splinter

barb

needle

prick

sticker

pin

thistle

stab

fishbone

sting

pierce

brier

spikelet

pricker

thornbush

prod

assassinate

quill

briar

acantha

hook

🪝

hurt

irritant

shot

sliver

spear

spit

spur

tab

thrust

tine

tip

wattle

thorny plant

biting words

acanthae

aculeus

prickly plant

acacia

spina spinae

arrow

bristle

burr

cleat

fin

fishbones

fix

gorse

irritate

lance

latch

murder

nail

pain in the ass

peak

pike

piton

point

prong

scale

score

select

shaft

sharp

sharp point

Pronounced as (IPA)

/θɔːn/

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”).