different between thorn vs prickly

English

Etymology

From Middle English thorn, þorn, from Old English þorn, þyrn (“thorn”), from Proto-Germanic *þurnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr?nós, from *(s)ter- (“stiff”). Near cognates include West Frisian toarn, Low German Doorn, Dutch doorn, German Dorn, Danish and Norwegian torn, Swedish torn, törne, Gothic ???????????????????????????? (þaurnus). Further cognates include Old Church Slavonic ????? (tr?n?, “thorn”), Russian ???? (tjorn), Polish cier?, Sanskrit ??? (t???a, “grass”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n

Noun

thorn (plural thorns)

1. (botany) A sharp protective spine of a plant.
2. Any shrub or small tree that bears thorns, especially a hawthorn.

3. (figuratively) That which pricks or annoys; anything troublesome.

4. 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).
   • See also Etymology of ye (definite article).

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

thorn (third-person singular simple present thorns, present participle thorning, simple past and past participle thorned)

1. To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn

Translations

See also

• eth, edh, eð, ð
• wynn, wen, ?
• ?

Further reading

• thorn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Thorns, spines, and prickles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Thorn (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• North, Rt Hon, Rt. Hon., north

Middle English

Alternative forms

• þorn, thorne, thron, þron, þorne

Etymology

Inherited from Old English þorn, from Proto-Germanic *þurnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr?nós.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??rn/, /?r?n/

Noun

thorn (plural thornes)

1. A thorn (spine on a plant with a sharp point)
2. Thorn or eth (the letter þ and/or ð)
3. A plant having thorns, especially the hawthorn or rosebush.
4. (rare) Thorns pulled from the ground for burning.
5. (rare) A dish incorporating hawthorn.

Derived terms

• hawthorn
• thornbak
• thornen
• thornetre
• thorny

Descendants

• English: thorn
• Scots: thorn; torn (Shetland)

References

• “thorn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *þornu (“thorn, sloe”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??rn/

Noun

thorn m

1. thorn; thorny bush

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: d?rn
  • German Low German: Däörn, Doorn, Dorn, Durn

English

Etymology

prickle +? -y

Pronunciation

Adjective

prickly (comparative pricklier, superlative prickliest)

1. Covered with sharp points.

   The prickly pear is a cactus; you have to peel it before eating it to remove the spines and the tough skin.

2. Easily irritated.

   He has a prickly personality. He doesn't get along with people because he is easily set off.

3. Difficult; complicated; (figuratively) hairy or thorny.

   It was a prickly situation.

Synonyms

• (covered with sharp points): thorny, spiny

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• prick

Adverb

prickly (comparative more prickly, superlative most prickly)

1. In a prickly manner.
   • 2016, David Thomson, Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped (in The Guardian, 3 March 2016)[1]

     Striding across stage in his bright white jacket, his voice soaring and cracking – like Charlie Parker’s – he was nervous but prickly eloquent, caustic yet encouraging.

Noun

prickly (plural pricklies)

1. (colloquial) Something that gives a pricking sensation; a sharp object.
   • 2002, William A. Luckey, Long Ride to Nowhere (page 75)

     Below, way out on the flat, Blue had seen a light green that could be graze but up here was nothing 'cept all kinds of prickly bushes, and too many of them. Ground-spreading pricklies that reached out to jump at a horse's belly […]

   • 2016, Richard J. Sklba, Joseph Juknialis, Easter Fire: Fire Starters for the Easter Weekday Homily (page 113)

     Dad, I need to ride on your shoulders because the pricklies hurt my feet.