# barnstar

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A decorative painted object or image, often in the shape of a five-pointed star but occasionally in a circular wagon-wheel style, used to adorn a barn.
2. A lucky charm resembling a star plate, similar to a horseshoe
3. An image posted on a wiki user's personal page by another user, as an informal award or form of recognition.

## Etymology
From barn + star. In the wiki sense a reference to the communal practice of barnraising, introduced on the MeatballWiki in the early 2000s and adopted by Wikipedia in 2003.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/barnstar