bairn

American  

[bairn, beyrn] / bɛərn, beɪrn /

noun

Scot. and North England.

1. a child; son or daughter.

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bairn British  

/ bern, bɛən /

noun

1. a child

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Usage

What does bairn mean? Bairn is a Scottish or Northern English word for child.

Etymology

Origin of bairn

before 900; Middle English bern, barn, Old English bearn; cognate with Gothic, Old Norse, Old High German, Old Saxon, barn, Old Frisian bern, Middle Dutch baren, Albanian me barrë pregnant; akin to Lithuanian bérnas boy, fellow, bear ¹

Example Sentences

"My dogs were better fed than some of the bairns running in the streets," Mr Shand says.

From BBC

In their two league meetings last season, the bairns from Gorgie came out on top.

From BBC

"If I hadn't seen the pictures of the bairns, I wouldn't be sitting with you now, and I just looked at them and thought, 'God, I can't leave them bairns'," she says.

From BBC

"If the police had done their jobs in the first place and Nikki had got justice I might have had some kind of life with my bairns and grandbairns," she said.

From BBC

He recalled that officers met a woman in the street in a "distressed state" who cried out "Oh God! It's the bairn, they've found the bairn" at about 10:30 on 8 October.

From BBC