English

knobthorn

From knob + thorn.

A compound of knob + thorn

Middle Low German knobbe ‘knob, knot in wood, bud’

Middle English knobbe

English knob

Proto-Indo-European *tr̥nós ‘sharp, stiff’

Proto-Germanic *þurnaz ‘thorn, briar’

Proto-West Germanic *þorn ‘thorn, briar’

Old English þorn

Middle English thorn ‘a thorn’

English thorn

Today it means

noun Senegalia nigrescens, a deciduous African tree found in savanna regions.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / knobthorn