barn

Meanings

Noun

• A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.
• A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.
• An arena.
• A warm and cozy place, especially a bedroom; a roost.
• A child.

Verb

• To lay up in a barn.

Related

Similar words

• bairn

Origin

• From Middle English bern, from Old English bearn, bern, contracted forms of Old English berern, bereærn, compound of bere and ærn, ræn, 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 .
• From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn ("child, son, offspring, progeny") and Old Norse barn ("child"). bairn. Cognate in Frisian: bern (child/children).