Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “spiny” come from?

Spiny derives from English spine, which comes from Latin spīna meaning thorn or backbone, with the adjectival suffix -y added in English.

spiny (English): covered in spines or thorns; troublesome;...

Definitions

  1. covered in spines or thorns; troublesome;...

Ancestry of “spiny”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “spiny”

  • aspiny
  • spininess
  • unspiny
  • spinyhead
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →