Etymology

thorny

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Today it means: Having thorns or spines. Full definition →

Middle English thorny ← Old English þorniġ ← Proto-West Germanic *þornag
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*þornag
  2. Old English · inherited fromþorniġ
  3. Middle English · inherited fromthorny
  4. English todaythorny

From Middle English thorny, þorny, þorni, from Old English þorniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *þornag. By surface analysis, thorn + -y.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishþorniġ all →

Thornycroft

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.