bairn

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots bairn, from Middle English bern, barn, from Old English bearn, from Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną. Doublet of barn. Compare West Frisian bern.

Pronunciation

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /bern/, /bɛrn/
• (Northumberland, North Durham, rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəʁn/
• (UK, rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəɹn/
• (UK, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛən/, /ˈbɛːn/
• (US, Canada, Ireland, West Country) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɚn/

• Audio (Scotland):

  (file)

In some areas (e.g. Bradford), pronounced as IPA^(key): /ˈbaːn/. See Etymology 2 under barn. (See page 216 in Joseph Wright's A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill).

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)n, -ɛːn, -aːn

Noun

bairn (plural bairns)

1. (Scotland, and parts of Northern England) A child or baby.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     She moved about the country like a ghost, gathering herbs in dark loanings, lingering in kirkyairds, and casting a blight on innocent bairns.

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 219:

     They say that a shag is good for an unborn child, they get the circulation of blood, or some shite. The least ah kin dae is take an interest in the bairn’s welfare.

   • 1998, Jonathan Langley, Collins Bedtime Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and Tales, Bobby Shaftoe, page 87:

     Bobby Shaftoe's getten a bairn
     For to dandle in his arm;
     In his arm and on his knee,
     Bobby Shaftoe loves me.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:child.

Derived terms

• bairnhood
• bairnie/bairny
• bairnish
• bairnless
• bairnlike
• bairnly
• bairn-time
• knave bairn
• shy bairns get nowt, shy bairns get noot
• stepbairn

 

Translations

child or baby

• Danish: barn (da) n
• German: Kind (de) n, Kleinkind (de) n, Baby (de) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barn (no) n

• Swedish: barn (sv) n

Verb

bairn (third-person singular simple present bairns, present participle bairning, simple past and past participle bairned)

1. (transitive, Scotland) To make pregnant.
   • 1992, Robin Jenkins, Happy for the Child, page 108:

     Go and kick the man that bairned your Nancy.

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 171:

     Just because he's signed up fir the fuckin army again, six bastard years this time, and bairned some slag.

References

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “BAIRN”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “bairn”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-09-05.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “bairn”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bairn”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “bairn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

References

• “bairn”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Barin, Brain, Brian, Rabin, abrin, brain, brian

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn (“child, son, descendant, offspring, issue, progeny”) and Old Norse barn (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, bring forth”).

Cognate with West Frisian bern (“child”), North Frisian baern, born (“child”), Middle High German barn (“child, son, daughter”), Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic barn (“child”), Albanian barrë (“pregnancy, child”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bern/, /bɛrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bairn (plural bairns)

1. child

   A went tae that schuil whan A wis a wee bairn an aw.

   I also went to that school when I was a young child

Derived terms

• bairnheid
• bairnie
• grandbairn

Descendants

• → English: bairn

Verb

bairn (third-person singular simple present bairns, present participle bairnin, simple past bairnt, past participle bairnt)

1. to make pregnant

   Whaiver he wis, he'd bairned her.

   Whoever he was, he'd got her pregnant.

References

• “barne, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “bairn, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.