horn

See also: Horn, hörn, Hörn, and hòrn

English

Etymology

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”).

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

Pronunciation

Noun

horn (countable and uncountable, plural horns)

A man playing a horn.
This sheep has horns.
  1. (countable) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
  2. 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. An antler.
  4. (uncountable) The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.
    Synonym: keratin
    an umbrella with a handle made of horn
  5. A vessel made from a horn, to contain drink, ink, gunpowder, etc.
    • 1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason.:
      horns of mead and ale
    • 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 143:
      I guarantee you a mighty feast, horns of ale, and afterwards wrestling and racing and contests of strength.
  6. An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia or the point of an anvil.
    1. One of the two corners of a crescent, particularly of the crescent moon
    2. The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
    3. (architecture) The Ionic volute.
    4. (nautical) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
    5. (carpentry) A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
    6. One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.
  7. (countable) Any of several musical wind instruments.
  8. (countable, music) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.
    hunting horn
  9. (countable, automotive) A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.
    Synonyms: hooter, klaxon
  10. (chiefly sports) A sound signaling the expiration of time.
    The shot was after the horn and therefore did not count.
  11. (countable) A conical device used to direct waves.
    Synonym: funnel
    antenna horn
    loudspeaker horn
  12. (informal, music, countable) Generally, any brass wind instrument.
  13. (slang, countable) A telephone.
    Synonyms: blower (UK), dog and bone (Cockney rhyming slang), phone
    Get him on the horn so that we can have a discussion about this.
  14. (vulgar, slang, with definite article) An erection of the penis.
    Synonyms: boner (US), hard-on, stiffy
  15. (countable, geography) A peninsula or projecting tract of land.
    Synonym: peninsula
    to navigate around the horn
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      But nowhere are there queerer waters than in our own parish of Caulds, at the place called the Sker Bay, where between two horns of land a shallow estuary receives the stream of the Sker.
  16. (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.
  17. (botany) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
  18. (military) 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.

Usage notes

When used alone to refer to an instrument, horn can mean either hunting horn or French horn, depending on context. Other instruments are identified by specific adjectives such as English horn or basset horn.

Translations
antler — see antler
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

horn (third-person singular simple present horns, present participle horning, simple past and past participle horned)

  1. (transitive, of an animal) To assault with the horns.
  2. (transitive) To furnish with horns.
  3. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To cuckold.

Derived terms

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /hoɐ̯ˀn/

Noun

horn n (singular definite hornet, plural indefinite horn)

  1. horn

Inflection
Declension of horn
neuter
gender		 Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative horn hornet horn hornene
genitive horns hornets horns hornenes

References

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /hɔtn/
  • Rhymes: -ɔtn

Noun

horn n (genitive singular horns, plural horn)

  1. horn (of an animal)
  2. (music) horn
  3. corner
  4. speaker (on a telephone)
  5. angle

Declension
Declension of horn
n3 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative horn hornið horn hornini
accusative horn hornið horn hornini
dative horni horninum hornum hornunum
genitive horns hornsins horna hornanna

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /hɔrtn/
  • Rhymes: -ɔrtn

Noun

horn n (genitive singular horns, nominative plural horn)

  1. horn (of an animal)
  2. fin (of a cetacean or other marine animal)
  3. corner
  4. angle
  5. (music) horn

Declension
declension of horn
n-s singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative horn hornið horn hornin
accusative horn hornið horn hornin
dative horni horninu hornum hornunum
genitive horns hornsins horna hornanna

Derived terms
  • hornafleiða
  • hornamál
  • hornfjarlægð
  • horngráða
  • hornhraði m (“angular velocity”)
  • hornhröðun
  • hornmál

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂nós (with change in gender).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /hɔrn/, /hoːrn/

Noun

horn (plural hornes)

  1. A horn (keratinous growth):
    1. Horn as a material or in crafts.
    2. (rare) The metaphorical horn of a cuckold.
    3. (rare, heraldry) A heraldic depiction of a horn.
  2. A projecting extremity or point:
    1. A point of a crescent moon.
    2. A point of a woman's hairstyle.
  3. A horn (musical instrument)
  4. A bodily extension, such as a claw.
  5. A horn-shaped container (especially as a glass)
  6. (rare) A section of an army or band.
  7. (rare) The eyestalk of a gastropod or an analogous projection.
  8. (rare, collectively) Horned bovids.

Descendants
  • English: horn
  • Scots: horn
  • Yola: hoorn

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /huːrn/, [ˈhuːɳ]

Noun

horn n (definite singular hornet, indefinite plural horn, definite plural horna or hornene)

  1. (zoology) horn
  2. (music) horn
  3. (automotive, rail transport) horn (warning device)

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /horn/, /hoɳː/
  • (segmentation) IPA(key): /hodn/
  • (palatalisation) IPA(key): /hoɲː/

Noun

horn n (definite singular hornet, indefinite plural horn, definite plural horna)

  1. (zoology) horn
  2. (music) horn
  3. (automotive, rail transport) horn (warning device)

Derived terms

References

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn, head, top”).

Cognate with Old Frisian horn, Old Saxon horn, Old High German horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /xorn/, [horˠn]

Noun

horn m

  1. horn
  2. antler
  3. (horn-shaped) gable

Declension
Declension of horn (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative horn hornas
accusative horn hornas
genitive hornes horna
dative horne hornum

Derived terms

Descendants

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Cognates include also Old Saxon horn, Old English horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Noun

horn n

  1. horn

Descendants
  • Middle High German: horn
    • Central Franconian:
      Hunsrik: Horn
      Luxembourgish: Har
    • Cimbrian: hòrn
    • German: Horn
    • Rhine Franconian:
      Frankfurterisch: [hɔɐ̯n]
    • Yiddish: האָרן (horn)

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- or Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-. Cognates include Old English horn (English horn, Old Frisian horn (West Frisian hoarn), Old Saxon horn (Low German Hoorn, horn), Dutch hoorn, Old High German horn (German Horn), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Noun

horn n (genitive horns, plural horn)

  1. horn (of an animal)
  2. horn (to drink from)
  3. horn (musical instrument)
  4. corner
  5. angle

Declension
  Declension of horn (strong a-stem)
neuter singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative horn hornit horn hornin
accusative horn hornit horn hornin
dative horni horninu hornum hornunum
genitive horns hornsins horna hornanna

Descendants
  • Icelandic: horn
  • Faroese: horn
  • Norn: honnj
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: horn, (dialectal) hønn
  • Norwegian Bokmål: horn
  • Old Swedish: horn
  • Danish: horn

References
  • “horn”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Cognates include also Old English horn, Old Frisian horn, Old High German horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Noun

horn n

  1. horn

Declension
Declension of horn (neuter a-stem)
singular plural
nominative horn horn
accusative horn horn
genitive hornes hornō
dative horne hornun
instrumental — —


Descendants

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Noun

horn n

  1. horn (of an animal)
  2. horn (to drink from)
  3. horn (musical instrument)
  4. corner
  5. angle

Declension

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acc_pl=horn
acc_sg=horn
gen_sg=horn
nom_pl=horn
nom_sg=horn
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  Declension of horn (strong a-stem)
neuter singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative horn hornit horn hornin
accusative horn hornit horn hornin
dative horni, horne horninu, horneno hornum, hornom hornumin, hornomen
genitive horns hornsins horna hornanna

Descendants

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ukrainian горн (horn), from Proto-Slavic *gъrnъ.

Noun

horn n (plural hornuri)

  1. chimney
    Synonyms: cămin, coș, fumar, hogeag

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-.

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

horn n

  1. horn (growth on animals' heads)
  2. horn (object shaped from or like an animal's horn, used for drinking, storage or making sounds)
  3. horn (object that makes a sound, e.g. on a car)
  4. (music) horn

Declension
Declension of horn 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative horn hornet horn hornen
Genitive horns hornets horns hornens
  • bilhorn
  • bläckhorn
  • bockhorn n (“goat's horn”)
  • dryckeshorn
  • hornboskap
  • hornmusik
  • hornprydd
  • kruthorn
  • valthorn
  • ymnighetshorn n (“cornucopia, horn of plenty”)
  • älghorn
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