bairn
/bɛərn/
"bairn" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bairn” is uncommon English (frequency #90,174 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,174
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A child or baby.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bairn · bairn · English
bairn · rank #90,174 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,174
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bagatelle
Nearest frequency peer: bagatelle (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “bairn”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- awf
awf
9,834 corpus weight
- backlink
backlink
9,830 corpus weight
- bagatelle
bagatelle
9,828 corpus weight
- bairn
bairn
9,827 corpus weight
- Banbridge
Banbridge
9,824 corpus weight
- baster
baster
9,818 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “bairn” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bairn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɛərn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #90,174 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bairn” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bairn is uncommon English at frequency #90,174 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /bɛərn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A child or baby.".
bairn doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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. The correct English form is bairn, spelled B-A-I-R-N.
Definition
- 1A child or baby.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bairn appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
She moved about the country like a ghost, gathering herbs in dark loanings, lingering in kirkyairds, and casting a blight on innocent bairns.
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.
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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bairn", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).