a sharp excrescence on a plant, especially a sharp-pointed aborted branch; spine; prickle.
any of various thorny shrubs or trees, especially the hawthorns belonging to the genus Crataegus, of the rose family.
the wood of any of these trees.
a runic character (þ), borrowed into the Latin alphabet and representing the initial th sounds in thin and they in Old English, or thin in modern Icelandic.
something that wounds, annoys, or causes discomfort.
verb (used with object)
to prick with a thorn; vex.
Idioms
thorn in one's side/flesh, a source of continual irritation or suffering: That child is a thorn in the teacher's side.
Origin of thorn
before 900;Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with Dutchdoorn,GermanDorn,Old Norsethorn,Gothicthaurnus
Related formsthorn·less, adjectivethorn·like, adjectiveun·thorn, verb (used with object)
a Germanic character of runic origin Þ used in Old and Modern Icelandic to represent the voiceless dental fricative sound of th, as in thin, bath. Its use in phonetics for the same purpose is now obsoleteSee theta
this same character as used in Old and Middle English as an alternative to edh, but indistinguishable from it in function or soundCompare edh
zoologyany of various sharp spiny parts
a source of irritation (esp in the phrases a thorn in one's sideorflesh)
Derived Formsthornless, adjective
Word Origin for thorn
Old English; related to Old High German dorn, Old Norse thorn
Old English þorn "sharp point on a stem or branch," earlier "thorny tree or plant," from Proto-Germanic *thurnuz (cf. Old Saxon thorn, Dutch doorn, Old High German dorn, German Dorn, Old Norse þorn, Gothic þaurnus), from PIE *trnus (cf. Old Church Slavonic trunu "thorn," Sanskrit trnam "blade of grass," Greek ternax "stalk of the cactus," Irish trainin "blade of grass"), from *(s)ter-n- "thorny plant," from root *ster- "stiff."
Figurative sense of "anything which causes pain" is recorded from early 13c. (thorn in the flesh is from II Cor. xii:7). Also an Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic runic letter (þ), named for the word of which it was the initial.
Also, thorn in one's side. A constant source of irritation, as in Paul's complaining and whining are a thorn in my flesh, or Mother's always comparing us children—it's a thorn in our sides. This metaphoric expression appears twice in the Bible. In Judges 2:3 it is enemies that “shall be as thorns in your sides”; in II Corinthians 12:7 Paul says his infirmities are “given to me a thorn in the flesh.”
