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# horny

adjective (horny, hornier, horniest)

«horny» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Hard, rough and tough like horn: horny skin, a horny beak. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m1)
2. Having horns: horny-headed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m2)
3. (rude, adult slang) a rude word grown-ups use; not for school or for children to use. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#m3)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x1)
- The gardener's hands were horny from years of work. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x2)
- Rhino horn is made of a horny material like fingernails. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x3)
- Reptiles are covered in horny scales. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x4)
- Horny skin on your heel can be softened with cream. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x5)
- The beetle has a horny shell. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/#x6)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «horny» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/horny/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«horny» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/horny.html) on Mova free.