different between coarsen vs horny

English

Etymology

coarse +? -en

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k??(?)s?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s?n

Verb

coarsen (third-person singular simple present coarsens, present participle coarsening, simple past and past participle coarsened)

1. (transitive) To make (more) coarse.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 6 "D'Sonoqua," [1]

     She appeared to be neither wooden nor stationary, but a singing spirit, young and fresh, passing through the jungle. No violence coarsened her; no power domineered to wither her. She was graciously feminine.

   • 1978, R. Z. Sheppard, "She-Wits and Funny Persons," Time, 29 February, 1978, [2]

     […] as the years went by, democracy and its wide audiences tended to broaden and coarsen humor.

2. (intransitive) To become (more) coarse.
   • 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, "The Beating," [3]

     He was intolerable now except under the influence of liquor, and as he seemed to decay and coarsen under her eyes, Gloria's soul and body shrank away from him […]

Anagrams

• Carones, Creason, Croesan, Sarceno, canoers, carnose, corneas, earcons, narcose, sea corn, seacorn, sorance

English

Etymology

From Middle English horny, equivalent to horn +? -y. Compare German hornig. Compare also Dutch hoornachtig, Swedish hornaktig, Old English hyrni? (“angular”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?.ni/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h??.ni/
• Rhymes: -??(?)ni

Adjective

horny (comparative hornier, superlative horniest)

1. Hard or bony, like an animal's horn.

   Synonyms: callous, coarse, hardened, rough

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Collins, 1998, Chapter 6,

     Two Dwarfs were at the bellows, another was holding a piece of red-hot metal on the anvil with a pair of tongs, a fourth was hammering it, and two, wiping their horny little hands on a greasy cloth, were coming forward to meet the visitors.

2. Having the hard consistency and pale colour of an animal's horn.
3. Having horns.

   Synonym: horned
4. (informal) Sexually aroused.

   Synonyms: randy, toey, in heat, excited; see also Thesaurus:randy
5. (informal) Sexually arousing.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sexy

   • 2003, Peep Show (TV series), Funeral (episode)

     Mark Corrigan: She [the dentist] should have to wear a mask for this kind of thing. Reagan or Batman or... actually she'd look pretty horny as Batman... Jesus, no, don't!

Derived terms

• (sexually aroused): horniness

Descendants

• (sexually aroused): ? Irish: adharcach (semantic loan)

Translations

Further reading

• “horny”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “horny”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).