THORN

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German dorn ~, Sanskrit tṛṇa grass, blade of grass Date: before 12th century a woody plant bearing sharp impeding processes (as prickles or spines), 2. a sharp rigid process on a plant, any of various sharp spinose structures on an animal, the runic letter Þ used in Old English and Middle English to represent either of the fricatives \\th\\ or \\ṯẖ\\ and in Icelandic to represent \\th\\, something that causes distress or irritation, ~ed adjective ~less adjective ~like adjective