bairn
4
9.9
- noun
- UK
- He's only a bairn.
- a wee bairn
Examples
-
Uncle Jocko promised the wee bairn would be a winner, and she will.
-
Darling is expecting a wee bairn.
-
Tell me it's not the bairn.
-
Since she was a bairn, she'd dressed as a lad to train with her father and brother.
Fiction book (2002) -
If we don't spoil the bairn, it's a wonder.
-
That was the year my cousin Flora had her bairn.
Fiction book (1990) -
Edmund is a married man and the father of a wee bairn.
Fiction book (1990) -
Might be more this year; it's been a good year for the crops and folk will have a bit more money put by, so a good many will bring their wives and bairns along.
Fiction book (1991) -
Bairns means children.
-
She lovingly cradled her newborn bairn in her arms.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A very young child like a baby
How Young
Surface Forms
Etymology
Bairn comes from an old English word bearn meaning 'child' and is like the modern Scandinavian word barn, which also means 'child'. So bairn still means a child, especially in Scotland and northern England.