Bairn Definition

Origin of Bairn

• From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English (Anglian dialect) bearn (“child, son, descendant, offspring, issue, prodigy”) and Old Norse barn (“child”), both from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, bring forth”). Cognate with West Frisian bern (“child”), North Frisian baern, born (“child”), Middle High German barn (“child, son, daughter”), Swedish, barn (“child”), Norwegian barn (“child”), Icelandic barn (“child”), Albanian barrë (“pregnancy, child”). See also barn.

  From Wiktionary

• Middle English barn from Old English bearn bher-¹ in Indo-European roots

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition