barn

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

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

   The farmer kept his cows in the barn during winter.

2. 2
   noun

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

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

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.

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