Meaning of Thorn | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A modified branch that is hard and sharp like a spike.
2. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone living near a thorn bush.
3. Any thorn-like structure on plants, such as the spine and the prickle.
4. A place name:
5. A hamlet in Houghton Regis parish, Central Bedfordshire district, Bedfordshire, England (OS grid ref TL0024).
6. Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
7. A village in Maasgouw municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands.
8. That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
   figuratively
9. An unincorporated community in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States.
10. 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).
11. Former name of Whitethorn, Humboldt County, California.

Equivalents

Examples

“On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.”

“the white thorn”

“the cockspur thorn”

“There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”

“The guilt of empire, all its thorns and cares, / Be only mine.”

“In Old English manuscripts thorn and eth did not have different phonetic values but were used positionally[.]”

“See also Etymology of ye (definite article).”

CEFR level