🇨🇳Chinese Source WordCode: ZH

Pronunciation / Transliteration:

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Thorn/θɔːrn/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #4500 frequency
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🇨🇳 Example Sentence in Chinese:

"玫瑰花的茎上长满了刺。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A stiff, sharp-pointed woody projection on the stem or other part of a plant.

    "She pricked her finger on a sharp thorn while picking roses."
  2. 2

    A source of continual annoyance, trouble, or distress.

    "The ongoing dispute over the property line remained a thorn in his side."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old English word 'þorn', of Germanic origin, sharing roots with Old Norse 'þorn' and German 'Dorn'. Historically used to describe the sharp, woody protective outgrowths on plants, it has maintained its core botanical and metaphorical meanings for over a millennium.

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