horny
Craving physical intimacy
Horny originally meant having horns or made of horn: a horny toad, horny hands (calloused, like horn).
The sexual sense—feeling aroused, lustful, eager for sex—emerged in the mid-20th century: He gets horny just looking at her.
The arousal sense now dominates so thoroughly that the horn sense sounds quaint or invites snickering.
The connection may come from the horn as a phallic symbol, or from the old expression "having the horn" for erection.
Intense carnal appetite
- lustfulFeeling strong sexual desire
- arousedAwakened or excited
- arousingEvoking strong feeling
- randySexually aroused, informally
frisky · raunchy · lecherous · libidinous · salacious · prurient · concupiscent · titillated
Large horned African mammal
- rhinoHorned thick-skinned mammal
- hoofHorny foot covering
- hoovesUngulate foot coverings
- nailMetal fastener or keratin plate
claw · beak · tortoise · shell · scales · keratinous · cuticle · fibrous
lust
Intense carnal appetite
randy · frisky · raunchy · lecherous · libidinous · salacious · prurient · concupiscent · titillated · oversexed
rhinoceros
Large horned African mammal
nail · claw · beak · tortoise · shell · scales · keratinous · cuticle · fibrous · casque
antlers
Branching cervid headgear
caribou · reindeer · buck · deer · roe · fallow · rack · tines · velvet · shedding
calloused
Thickened from wear
thick-skinned · tough · weathered · coarse · gnarled · cracked · dry · scaly · chapped · rugged
- mineral propertiesadamantine, vitreous, metallic, pearly, resinous
hornyunaroused
Not physically excited
turned off · frigid · cold · uninterested · asexual
- car hornVehicle's audible warning
- hornet's nestAggressive insect hive
- horn dogPerpetually aroused person
- air hornPressurized canister that blares
- French hornCoiled brass wind instrument
- English hornAlto-range double-reed woodwind