barn
[ˈbɑɹn]noun, verb
barn is spelled B-A-R-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, barn means “A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of barn is barns.
How many letters and syllables are in barn?
| Letters | 4: B-A-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th 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 barn?
Barn appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th 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 barn?
- US [ˈbɑɹn]
- US [ˈbɑɻn]
- [ˈbaɹn]
Barn has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-barn.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with barn?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as barn.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bran.
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 barn
- barns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- barning participle, present
- barned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does barn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.
- 2
A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.
- 3
informalAn arena.
Maple Leaf Gardens was a grand old barn.
- 4
slangA warm and cozy place, especially a bedroom; a roost.
- 5
A child.
verb
- 1
To lay up in a barn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Barn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | grange, fenil , barn |
| German | Scheune, Scheuer, Stadel, Stall, Schuppen , Barn |
| Portuguese | celeiro , barn |
| Spanish | galpón, pósito, trox, troj, troje, hórreo |
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 barn come from?
From Middle English barn, bern, bærn, from Old English bearn, bern, contracted forms of Old English berern, bereærn (“barn, granary”), compound of bere (“barley”) and ærn, ræn (“dwelling, barn”), from Proto-West Germanic *raʀn, from Proto-Germanic *razną (compare Old Norse rann), from pre-Germanic *h₁rh̥₁-s-nó-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₁- (“to rest”). More at rest and barley. For the use as a unit of surface area, see w:Barn (unit) § Etymology.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).