bairn
/bɛərn/noun, verb
bairn is spelled B-A-I-R-N: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 90,432nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bairn means “A child or baby” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bairn is bairns.
How many letters and syllables are in bairn?
| Letters | 5: B-A-I-R-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 90,432nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bairn?
Bairn appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 90,432nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bairn?
- /bɛərn/
- [bern]
- [bɛrn]
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: Eng-bairn-rhoScot.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bairn?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bairn.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: brain, brian, barin, abrin.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of bairn
- bairns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bairning participle, present
- bairned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bairn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
ScotlandA child or baby.
verb
- 1
ScotlandTo get (someone) pregnant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bairn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense child or baby:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bairn come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).