barn

B2 Topic:Animals

US [ˈbɑɹn] UK [ˈbɑːn] See IPA manual

Freq #4063

Meanings

1

noun
A large farm building used to store crops or keep animals.

The farmer kept his cows in the barn during winter.
2

noun
A very large, plain building, often a sports arena.

The old hockey arena was a grand old barn full of memories.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms barns

Derived forms attobarnbarn-likebarn-raisingbarn-starbarnboardbarnburnerbarnburningbarndominiumbarndoorbarnfloorbarnfulbarnless

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

barn door
the large door providing access to a farm storage building

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Barn is an Old English compound formed from bere, meaning “barley,” and ern, meaning “house.” It originally denoted a building used to store barley.

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.

barn Middle English bearn Old English berern Old English *raʀn Proto-West Germanic *razną Proto-Germanic *h₁erh₁- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# barn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** [ˈbɑɹn]
**IPA (UK):** [ˈbɑːn]
**Frequency rank:** 4063

## Meanings
1. A large farm building used to store crops or keep animals.
2. A very large, plain building, often a sports arena.

## Examples
- The farmer kept his cows in the barn during winter.
- The old hockey arena was a grand old barn full of memories.

## Derived Forms
- attobarn
- barn-like
- barn-raising
- barn-star
- barnboard
- barnburner
- barnburning
- barndominium
- barndoor
- barnfloor
- barnful
- barnless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: barn
- Root: bearn
- Root: berern
- Root: *raʀn
- Root: *razną
- Root: *h₁erh₁-

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Barn comes 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.

## Topics
- Animals

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