hawthorn

Etymology

From Middle English hawthorn, from Old English hagaþorn, hæguþorn, from Proto-West Germanic *haguþorn; equivalent to haw (“hedge, enclosure”) +‎ thorn.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔː.θɔːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔ.θɔɹn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

hawthorn (plural hawthorns)

1. Any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Crataegus having small, apple-like fruits and thorny branches
   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 59:

     Proust, an author to whom Humboldt had introduced me and in whose work he gave me heavy instruction, said he was often attracted to people whose faces had something in them of a hawthorn hedge in bloom.

References

• Crataegus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Crataegus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Anagrams

• Hanworth

Alternative forms

• haȝ þorn, haȝþorne, haue-thorne, hauȝ þorne, hauthorne, hauþorn, hauþorne, hawethorn, hawethorne, haweþorn, hawe-þorn, hawe þorn, hawȝþorn, hawthern, hawthorne, hawthorun, haw-thron, hawþrone

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hagaþorn, hæguþorn, from Proto-West Germanic *haguþorn; equivalent to hawe +‎ thorn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhau̯(ə)ˌθɔrn/, /ˈhau̯(ə)ˌθoːrn/, /ˈhau̯(ə)ˌθrɔn/

Noun

hawthorn (plural hawthornes)

1. A hawthorn or similar tree or shrub.