n.
    
      - 刺,棘[C]
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No rose without a 
thorn.
玫瑰多刺。(有快樂就有痛苦)
 
      - 有刺植物[U][C]
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Thorns sprang up and choked the wheat.
荊棘叢生,把小麥都蓋沒了。
  
      - 惱人的事(或人)[C]
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The biggest 
thorn in the Prime Minister's side is inflation.
最使首相苦惱的問題是通貨膨脹。
 
    
   
  片語
  
    a thorn in sb.'s flesh/side
    
      - 某人的眼中釘
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He was 
a thorn in the police's flesh.
他是警方的眼中釘。
 
    
    be/sit on thorns
    
      - 如坐針氈;焦慮不安
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He was then 
sitting on thorns and waiting for you.
他當時如坐針氈,焦急地等待著你。
 
    
   
  衍生
  
    a.
    thorny
    n. [U]
    thorniness
   
  辨析
  
 
  n.
   - a stiff, sharp-pointed woody projection on the stem or other part of a plant.
 - a thorny bush, shrub, or tree, especially a hawthorn.
 - an Old English and Icelandic runic letter, þ or Þ, representing the dental fricatives  
/ð/
 and  
/θ/
, eventually superseded by the digraph th.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - a thorn in someone's side 
(or flesh)
 a source of continual annoyance or trouble. 
    
   
  Derivative
  
    - thorned adj.
  - thornless adj.
 
   
  Etymology
  OE, of Gmc origin; the OE letter was named from the word of which it was the first letter.