thorn

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”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /θɔːn/

  • Audio (UK):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /θoɹn/, [θo̞ɹn]

  • Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n

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

thorn (plural thorns)

1. (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.

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

   the white thorn

   the cockspur thorn

3. (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.

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).
   • 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).

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^[1]:

     […] 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.

• eth, edh, eð, ð
• wynn, wen, ƿ
• ᚦ

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

• North, Rt Hon, Rt. Hon., north

• thorne, thron, thurne, þorn, þorne, þron

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

• IPA^(key): /θɔrn/, /θoːrn/, /θrɔn/

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.

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

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

From Proto-West Germanic *þornu (“thorn, sloe”).

• IPA^(key): /θɔrn/

thorn m

1. thorn; thorny bush

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