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Horn

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horn¹

  • /hɔːn/ UK
  • /hɔɹn/ US
  • /ˈhɑːɹˠn/
  • /ˈhoːɹˠn/
  • /ˈhoːɻn/

Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)n

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

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Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂nós

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂nóm

Proto-Germanic *hurną

Proto-West Germanic *horn

Old English horn

Middle English horn

English horn

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”). Doublet of corn (“callus”), corno, and cornu.

(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.

noun horns

  1. countable A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
  2. countable, uncountable Any similar real or imaginary growth or projection such as the elongated tusk of a narwhal, the eyestalk of a snail, the pointed growth on the nose of a rhinoceros, or the hornlike projection on the head of a demon or similar.
  3. countable, uncountable An antler.
  4. uncountable The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects. an umbrella with a handle made of horn
  5. countable, uncountable A vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc. horns of mead and ale
  6. countable, uncountable One of the two corners of a crescent, particularly of the crescent moon [W]hile riſing ſlow, / Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaſt, the moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
  7. countable, uncountable The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
  8. countable, uncountable The Ionic volute.
  9. countable, uncountable The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
  10. countable, uncountable A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
  11. countable, uncountable One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering. Joab […] caught hold on the horns of the altar
  12. countable Any of several musical wind instruments.
  13. countable An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others. hunting horn
  14. countable A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
  15. countable, uncountable A sound signaling the expiration of time. The shot was after the horn and therefore did not count.
  16. countable A conical device used to direct waves. antenna horn
  17. countable, informal Generally, any brass wind instrument.
  18. countable, slang A telephone. Get him on the horn so that we can have a discussion about this.
  19. countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar, with definite article An erection of the penis.
  20. countable A peninsula or projecting tract of land. to navigate around the horn
  21. countable A diacritical mark that may be attached to the top right corner of the letters o and u when writing in Vietnamese, thus forming ơ and ư.
  22. countable, uncountable An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
  23. countable, uncountable In naval mine warfare, a projection from the mine shell of some contact mines which, when broken or bent by contact, causes the mine to fire.

verb horns · horning · horned

  1. transitive Of an animal, to assault with the horns.
  2. transitive To furnish with horns.
  3. obsolete, slang, transitive To cuckold.
  4. India, Singapore, intransitive To sound the horn of a motor vehicle; to honk. , His Precious Gem He horned five times but the man didn't moved his car away.

Horn²

proper noun the Horn

  1. Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. Sailing around the Horn was an arduous journey for sailing ships.
  2. The Horn of Africa, a peninsula of Africa which juts into the Arabian Sea. At the same time, it would be erroneous to exaggerate U.S. interests, to overreact to political developments in the Horn, or to adopt imprudent policies based on emotional reactions to Soviet and Cuban involvement.

Horn³

proper noun Horns

  1. countable, uncountable A surname.
  2. countable, uncountable A former civil parish in Rutland, England, abolished in 2016 on the formation of Exton and Horn parish.
  3. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States.

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