horny
part of speech
adjective (horny, hornier, horniest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Hard, rough and tough like horn: horny skin, a horny beak. tree →
2) Having horns: horny-headed. tree →
3) (rude, adult slang) a rude word grown-ups use; not for school or for children to use. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and nature lessons: a turtle's horny beak, horny plates on reptiles, horny skin on feet. The slang sense is adult and rude, so in a school text it usually means hard like horn. Phrases: a horny beak, horny scales.
examples
- Turtles have no teeth, only a horny beak. tree →
- The gardener's hands were horny from years of work. tree →
- Rhino horn is made of a horny material like fingernails. tree →
- Reptiles are covered in horny scales. tree →
- Horny skin on your heel can be softened with cream. tree →
- The beetle has a horny shell. tree →
note
Trap: in modern everyday English the slang (adult) meaning is common, so people may giggle; in science the word means hard like horn. Safer school words: hard, tough, keratin.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «horny» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.