thorn

Etymology

From Middle English thorn, þorn, from Old English þorn, from Proto-West Germanic *þornu, from Proto-Germanic *þurnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥nós, from *(s)ter- (“stiff”). cognates Near cognates include West Frisian toarn, Low German Doorn, Dutch doorn, German Dorn, Danish and Norwegian torn, Swedish torn, törne, Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌿𐍃 (þaurnus). Further cognates include Old Church Slavonic трънъ (trŭnŭ, “thorn”), Russian тёрн (tjorn), Polish cierń, Sanskrit तृण (tṛ́ṇa, “grass”).

noun

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

verb

1. To pierce with, or as if with, a thorn (sharp pointed object).
   […] human nature is, above all things, lazy, and needs to be thorned and goaded up those heights where it ought to fly. 1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks
   Even Judge Bradley's callused sentiments were thorned by the narration of Jaclyn's journals. 2003, Scott D. Zachary, Scorn This, page 175