overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

thorny.

Having thorns or spines.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈθɔːni/Received-Pronunciation/ˈθɔɹni/US
  1. Having thorns or spines.

    literally
  2. Troublesome or vexatious.

    figuratively
    thorny issues
  3. Aloof and irritable.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

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

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

thorny has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

thorny studiothorny workshello, thorny

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.