Definitions for Thorn
θɔrnthorn

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. irritant, thornnoun

   something that causes irritation and annoyance

   "he's a thorn in my flesh"

2. spine, thorn, prickle, pricker, sticker, spikeletnoun

   a small sharp-pointed tip resembling a spike on a stem or leaf

3. thornnoun

   a Germanic character of runic origin

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. thornnoun

   A sharp protective spine of a plant.

2. thornnoun

   A letter of the Latin alphabet (capital: u00DE, small: þ), borrowed by Old English from the futhark to represent a dental fricative, then not distinguished from eth, but in modern use (in Icelandic and other languages, but no longer in English) used only for the voiceless dental fricative found in English thigh

3. thornverb

   To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn

4. Thornnoun

   for someone living near a thorn bush.

5. Etymology: From þorn and þorn, from þurnuz, from (s)ter-n-, possibly derived from ster-. Near cognates include German Dorn and Gothic
   0338
   0330
   033F
   0342
   033D
   033F
   0343. Further cognates include Old Church Slavonic трънъ, Albanian drizë and Sanskrit तृण.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. THORNnoun

   Etymology: thaurns, Gothick; þorn , Saxon; doorne, Dutch.

   1. A prickly tree of several kinds.

   Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth. Gen. iii. 18.

   2. A prickle growing on the thorn bush.

   The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. Mic. vii.

   Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose. John Milton.

   3. Any thing troublesome.

   The guilt of empire; all its thorns and cares
   Be only mine. Thomas Southerne, Spartan Dame.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. thorn

   A thorn is a sharp, pointed outgrowth found on the stem or other parts of certain plants, typically serving as a protective measure against herbivores. Derived from branches or stems rather than from leaves, thorns are generally hard, woody, and may be simple or branched. They are an example of plant defensive structures and adaptations.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Thornnoun

   a hard and sharp-pointed projection from a woody stem; usually, a branch so transformed; a spine

2. Thornnoun

   any shrub or small tree which bears thorns; especially, any species of the genus Crataegus, as the hawthorn, whitethorn, cockspur thorn

3. Thornnoun

   fig.: That which pricks or annoys as a thorn; anything troublesome; trouble; care

4. Thornnoun

   the name of the Anglo-Saxon letter /, capital form /. It was used to represent both of the sounds of English th, as in thin, then. So called because it was the initial letter of thorn, a spine

5. Thornverb

   to prick, as with a thorn

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Thorn

   Thorn or þorn is a letter in the Old English, Gothic, Old Norse, and Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph th, except in Iceland where it survives. The letter originated from the rune ᚦ in the Elder Fuþark, called thorn in the Anglo-Saxon and thorn or thurs in the Scandinavian rune poems, its reconstructed Proto-Germanic name being Thurisaz. It has the sound of either a voiceless dental fricative [θ], like th as in the English word thick, or a voiced dental fricative [ð], like th as in the English word the. Modern Icelandic usage generally excludes the latter, which is instead represented with the letter eth; however, [ð] may occur as an allophone of /þ/ when ⟨þ⟩ appears in an unstressed pronoun or adverb after a voiced sound. Typographically, the lower case thorn character is unusual in that it has both an ascender and a descender.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Thorn

   thorn, n. a sharp, woody spine on the stem of a plant: a spine: a plant having spines or thorns: anything prickly or troublesome.—ns. Thorn′-app′le, a plant of genus Datura: a haw, a thorn-tree; Thorn′back, a species of ray or skate which has nail-like crooked spines in its back; Thorn′bill, a variety of humming-bird with short, straight bill; Thorn′-bush, a shrub producing thorns; Thorn′-hedge, a hedge of hawthorn.—adjs. Thorn′less, without thorns; Thorn′set, set or beset with thorns; Thorn′y, full of thorns: prickly: troublesome: harassing (A.S. thorniht).—Thorn in the flesh, any cause of constant irritation, from 2 Cor. xii. 7. [A.S. thorn; Ice. thorn, Ger. dorn.]

The Nuttall EncyclopediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Thorn

   a town and fortress of the first rank in West Prussia, on the Vistula, 115 m. NW. of Warsaw; formerly a member of the Hanseatic League (q. v.); was annexed by Prussia in 1815; the birthplace of Copernicus; carries on a brisk trade in corn and timber.

Military Dictionary and GazetteerRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. thorn

   A fortified town of the kingdom of Prussia, in the province of West Prussia, on the right bank of the Vistula. It is defended by walls, bastions, and two forts. This town was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1232, and admitted into the Hanseatic League in the beginning of the 14th century. It was taken by Charles XII. of Sweden in 1703, after a siege of four months.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. THORN

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Thorn is ranked #3569 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Thorn surname appeared 9,988 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 would have the surname Thorn.
   
   83.8% or 8,370 total occurrences were White.
   9.7% or 978 total occurrences were Black.
   2.2% or 224 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   1.9% or 191 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   1.8% or 188 total occurrences were Asian.
   0.3% or 37 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

1. • Annoyance
   • Rune

Anagrams for Thorn »

1. north

2. North

3. Rt Hon

How to pronounce Thorn?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Thorn in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Thorn in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Thorn in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of Thorn in a Sentence

1. Hassan Kamal:

   For better or worse, Khan is likely to be a thorn in the government's side for much time to come.

2. James Russell Lowell:

   One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.

3. Michael Raymond-James:

   He was so much more involved than that. He was a major operative and a huge thorn in the British crown, sons of Liberty.

4. Kenneth Hare:

   The Puritan through life’s sweet garden goes to pluck the thorn and cast away the rose.

5. Nicolle Wallace:

   You know, I don't want to be the chick police, but I think that Carly will go far by broadening the attack to everything that's wrong with the liberal approach as opposed to being the thorn in Hillary Clinton's side, she runs the risk of having it look personal.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Thorn
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thorn
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=Thorn
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Thorn
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=Thorn
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=Thorn
8. ^ The Nuttall Encyclopedia
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12342/pg12342-images.html#Thorn
9. ^ Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/59563/pg59563-images.html
10. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
    https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html