cierń

Polish

Alternative forms

• ciernie, tarnie (Middle Polish)
• czérznie, czyrznie (Kuyavia)
• cirznie (Central Greater Poland)
• cirzń (Central Greater Poland, Near Masovian)
• cyrznie (Near Masovian)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish ciernie, cierznie, cirnie, cirznie, cirń. Cognate with Bulgarian тръ́не (trǎ́ne), Old Church Slavonic трьниѥ (trĭnije), Russian те́рние (térnije), Serbo-Croatian тр̑ње, Slovak tŕnie, Slovene tŕnje.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ɕɛrɲ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrɲ
• Syllabification: cierń

Noun

cierń m inan

1. (botany) thorn (sharp protective spine of a plant)

   Synonym: kolec

2. (botany, colloquial) thorn (any shrub or small tree that bears thorns)

   Synonym: krzew ciernisty

3. (botany, rare) blackthorn, sloe

   Synonyms: ciarka, tarka, tarnina, tarń

4. (figurative, literary) thorn (that which pricks or annoys)

   Synonym: zadra

Declension

Declension of cierń

	singular	plural
nominative	cierń	ciernie
genitive	ciernia	cierni/cierniów
dative	cierniowi	cierniom
accusative	cierń	ciernie
instrumental	cierniem	cierniami
locative	cierniu	cierniach
vocative	cierniu	ciernie

Derived terms

(adjectives):

• cierniowaty
• cierniowy
• ciernisty

(nouns):

• cierniara
• ciernik
• ciernina
• cierniopląt
• ciernisko

(verb):

• ciernieć impf

Related terms

(adjective):

• ciernikowaty

(nouns):

• cierniczek
• tarnina
• tarń

Further reading

• cierń in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• cierń in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “tarn”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna