EGAVE

thorn

About 2.22 uses per million words.

Meaning

  1. noun A modified branch that is hard and sharp like a spike.
  2. noun Any thorn-like structure on plants, such as the spine and the prickle.
  3. noun Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.
    the white thorn
  4. noun That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.
  5. noun 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).
  6. verb To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).

Similar words

spine prickle irritant brier sashimi spina backbone fork stone stab

Often followed by

in and bushes bush trees tree of to from

Word family

thorned thornless thornlike thorns

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