thorny

From Middle English thorny, þorny, þorni, from Old English þorniġ (“full of thorns; thorny”), from Proto-Germanic *þurnugaz (“thorny”), equivalent to thorn +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch doornig (“thorny”), German dornig (“thorny”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθɔːni/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθɔɹni/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ni

thorny (comparative thornier, superlative thorniest)

1. having thorns or spines
2. troublesome or vexatious
   • Shakespeare

     the steep and thorny way to heaven

3. aloof and irritable
   • Louisa May Alcott, Good Wives

     'Come, Jo, don't be thorny. After studying himself to a skeleton all the week, a fellow deserves petting, and ought to get it.'

• thorniness
• thorny restharrow
• thorny trefoil

• rhyton

Inherited from Old English þorniġ, from Proto-Germanic *þurnugaz; equivalent to thorn +‎ -y.

• þorny, þorni, thornye, thornee

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɔrniː/

thorny

1. Having many thorns or spines; thorny.
2. (rare) Covered in thorny plants.
3. (rare) Having a shape like a thorn.

• English: thorny
• Scots: thorny

• “thornī (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

From thorn +‎ -en (“infinitival suffix”).

thorny

1. Alternative form of thornen