thorn

See also: Thorn and þorn

English

thorns of a plant (sense 1)

upper- and lower-case versions of the thorn character (sense 4)

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 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, volumes (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).

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
• 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 spine of a plant

• Abaza: мгъы (mɣə)
• Afar: keena
• Afrikaans: doring
• Albanian: ferrë (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: 刺 (zh) (cì), 荊棘／荆棘 (zh) (jīngjí)

• 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

• 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) (ğaž)
• 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 (es) m (small), ahuate (es) m (small), afate (es) m (small), ajuate m (small, Central America), uguate m (small, Mexico)
• 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)
• Urdu: کانٹا m (kā̃ṭā)
• Vietnamese: gai (vi)
• Welsh: draenen f
• West Frisian: toarne c
• Western Bukidnon Manobo: duɣi
• Yiddish: דאָרן m (dorn)
• Zande: kiwe
• ǃXóõ: gǃqhàẽ

any shrub or small tree that bears thorns

• Bulgarian: трън (bg) m (trǎn)
• Finnish: piikkipensas

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

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^[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.

Translations

to pierce with, or as if with, a thorn

• 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 2018-09-12.

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

Declension of 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