thorn

See also: Thorn and þorn

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”).

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /θɔːn/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /θoɹn/, [θo̞ɹn]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n

• (without the horse–hoarse merger)
  • (rhotic) IPA^(key): /θɔːɹn/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /θɔːn/

Noun

thorn (plural thorns)

1. (botany) A modified branch that is hard and sharp like a spike.
2. Any thorn-like structure on plants, such as the spine and the prickle.
   • 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.

3. Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.

   the white thorn

   the cockspur thorn

4. (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.

5. 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

sharp protective structure of a plant

Abaza: мгъы (mɣə) Afar: keena Afrikaans: doring Albanian: ferrë (sq) , thumb (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: 枝刺 (zh) (zhīcì), 莖刺 / 茎刺 (zh) (jīngcì), 刺 (zh) (cì) Cornish: dren m Crimean Tatar: (please verify) 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 Kapampangan: duwi, duyi 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) (ġaž) 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) Uzbek: tikon Vietnamese: gai (vi) Welsh: draenen f West Frisian: toarne c Western Bukidnon Manobo: duɣi Yiddish: דאָרן m (dorn) Zande: kiwe Zyphe: hling ǃXóõ: gǃqhàẽ

any shrub or small tree that bears thorns

Bulgarian: трън (bg) m (trǎn) Finnish: piikkipensas Chinese: Mandarin: 荊棘 / 荆棘 (zh) (jīngjí)

figuratively: that which pricks

Finnish: piikki (fi) Greek: Ancient: σκόλοψ m (skólops)

letter of the Latin alphabet (Þ, þ)

Belarusian: торн m (torn) Bulgarian: торн m (torn) Chinese: Madarin: Þ (zh) Esperanto: dorno Faroese: torn n Finnish: thorn (fi) French: thorn (fr) m Icelandic: þorn n Korean: 손 (ko) (son) Macedonian: торн m (torn) Norwegian: thorn m Old English: þorn Russian: торн (ru) (torn) Spanish: thorn (es) m Swahili: ba Ukrainian: торн m (torn) ǃXóõ: gǃhàã

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: (please verify) doring Albanian: (please verify) gjemb (sq) m Dutch: (please verify) doorn (nl) m Esperanto: (please verify) dorno German: (please verify) Dorn (de) m Icelandic: (please verify) þorn Indonesian: (please verify) duri (id) Romanian: (please verify) spin (ro) m, (please verify) ghimpe (ro) m Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) trn (sh) m Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) trn (sh) m Woiwurrung: (please verify) warr

Verb

thorn (third-person singular simple present thorns, present participle thorning, simple past and past participle thorned)

1. 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

to pierce with, or as if with, a thorn

Albanian : shpo (sq) Bulgarian: бода (bg) (boda) Galician: espiñar (gl) Portuguese: espinhar (pt)

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^(key): /θɔrn/, /θoːrn/, /θrɔn/

Noun

thorn (plural thornes)

1. A thorn (spine on a plant with a sharp point)
2. Thorn or eth (the letter þ and/or ð)
3. A plant having thorns, especially the hawthorn or rosebush.
4. (rare) Thorns pulled from the ground for burning.
5. (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 12 September 2018.

Old Dutch

Etymology

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

Noun

thorn m

1. thorn, spine of a plant

Inflection

Declension of thorn (masculine u-stem noun)

case	singular	plural
nominative	thorn	thurni
accusative	thorn	thurni
genitive	thurnis	thorno
dative	thurni	thornon

Declension of thorn (masculine a-stem noun)

case	singular	plural
nominative	thorn	thorna
accusative	thorn	thorna
genitive	thornes	thorno
dative	thorne	thornon

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”).

Cognates

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^(key): /θɔrn/

Noun

thorn m

1. thorn; thorny bush

Declension

thorn (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	thorn	thornos
accusative	thorn	thornos
genitive	thornes	thornō
dative	thorne	thornum
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

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