hornbook

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: horn=book

CIDE DICTIONARY

hornbook, n. 

•  The first book for children, or that from which in former times they learned their letters and rudiments; -- so called because a sheet of horn covered the small, thin board of oak, or the slip of paper, on which the alphabet, digits, and often the Lord's Prayer, were written or printed; a primer.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  A book containing the rudiments of any science or branch of knowledge; a manual; a handbook.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hornbook, n. hist. a leaf of paper containing the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, etc., mounted on a wooden tablet with a handle, and protected by a thin plate of horn.

THESAURUS

hornbook

abecedarium, abecedary, alphabet, alphabet book, and arithmetic, basics, battledore, casebook, elementary education, elements, exercise book, first principles, first steps, gradus, grammar, induction, initiation, introduction, manual, manual of instruction, outlines, primer, principia, principles, propaedeutic, reader, reading, rudiments, schoolbook, speller, spelling book, t, text, workbook, writing