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

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

• Audio (Southern England):

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thorny (comparative thornier, superlative thorniest)

1. (literally) Having thorns or spines.

   Synonyms: prickly, spiny

   • 2024 October 3, Sandee LaMotte, “‘I’ve never experienced pain like that’: Consumers pay the price for untested food ingredients”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Tara flour is one of two products made from the seed pods of a thorny shrub native to Peru. One of those, tara gum, has been used safely for years as a thickening agent or stabilizer in human foods.

2. (figuratively)
   1. Troublesome or vexatious.
      • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

        the steep and thorny way to heaven

      • 2008 July 15, Keith Goetzman, “Is Fan Fiction Flouting the Law?”, in Utne Reader:

        Westcott doesn’t even consider the thornier question of fan fiction based on real and often living people, for instance, the “bandslash” or “bandfic” phenomenon built around rock-star characters and often homoerotic subplots.

      • 2017 September 28, Ana Swanson, “How the Trump Administration Is Doing Renegotiating Nafta”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

        Six weeks into the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the thorniest issues surrounding the pact remain unresolved.

      • 2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post‎^[3]:

        Museums have recently begun to confront the same thorny question, with several issuing public apologies for collecting the remains of people believed or known to have been enslaved.

      • 2025 April 16, Ben Jones, “An opening for international high-speed competition”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 13:

        Station capacity in London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam remains a thorny issue, as does obtaining suitable Channel Tunnel-compliant trains.

   2. Aloof and irritable.
      • 1868, 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.

• rhyton

From Old English þorniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *þornag. Equivalent to thorn +‎ -y.

• thornee, thornye, þorni, þorny

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɔrniː/, /ˈθoːrniː/

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.

thorny

1. Alternative form of thornen