horny

American  

[hawr-nee] / ˈhɔr ni /

adjective

• hornier,
  comparative
• horniest
  superlative

1. consisting of a horn or a hornlike substance; corneous.

2. having a horn or horns or hornlike projections; horned.

3. hornlike as a result of hardening; callous.

   horny hands.

4. Slang: Vulgar.

   1. lustful.

   2. sexually excited.

5. Archaic. semiopaque or somewhat translucent, like horn.

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horny British  

/ ˈhɔːnɪ /

adjective

1. of, like, or hard as horn

2. having a horn or horns

3. slang

   1. sexually aroused

   2. provoking or intended to provoke sexual arousal

   3. sexually eager or lustful

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• horniness
  noun
• hornily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• hornier
  comparative
• horniest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of horny

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; horn + -y ¹

Explanation

Things that are horny either look like or are made of an animal’s horn or a similar hard material. The thick, hard nail on your big toe could be described as horny. The word horny, describing the bony projection on an animal's head, appeared in English before the 10th century. An informal meaning — that of being sexually aroused — appeared later. Male physical arousal was crudely referred to as "having the horn” in the late 18th century before becoming the word horny in the mid-19th century. First used exclusively for men, the word now describes women's sexual feelings as well.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

horny hornier horniest

The lizards face yet another, more natural, problem: Just about anything that can eat a horny toad will eat a horny toad.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2021

Don’t be fooled by the hazy visuals, retro aesthetic and moody lighting — this isn’t really part of the “Riverdale” darkly horny teen soap genre.

From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2020

Indeed, the university rescinded admission offers for at least 10 prospective students in 2017 over offensive comments they had made in a private Facebook group called “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens”.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2019

Apart from the tusks, dicynodonts were mostly toothless, with a horny beak like modern-day turtles.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 22, 2018

He saw the dark horny feet of the men and their ragged white clothes, and he heard the creak of leather of the saddle and the clink of spurs.

From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

The glass, again, though elegant and quaint, and very varied in form, was somewhat bubbled and hornier in texture than the commercial articles of the nineteenth century. 

From News from Nowhere, or, an Epoch of Rest : being some chapters from a utopian romance by William Morris

Like I said mate, I've been a surfin fool, I'm the horniest I have been for surfing in years.

From Time Magazine Archive