barn
[ˈbɑɹn]
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.99 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.
noun
A child.
name
A diminutive of the male given names Barney, Barnabas, Barnaby, and Barnett.
name
A unisex given name transferred from the surname; diminutive of Barnard (“surname”).
Example Sentences
- "One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions."
- "Maple Leaf Gardens was a grand old barn."
- "But like still-pining Tantalus he sits / And useless barns the harvest of his wits"
- "Hypocrites, in like manner, so act holiness that they pass for saints before men, whose censures often barn up the chaff, and burn up the grain."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [ˈbɑɹn]
- British English: [ˈbɑːn]