barren

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Having poor soil where few plants can grow; empty and bare.

   Nothing grows on the barren, rocky hillside.

2. 2
   adj

   Not able to have children or produce young.

   In the story, the queen wept because she was barren.

3. 3
   adj

   Lacking something; producing nothing useful.

   The negotiations proved barren of any real results.

From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a doublet of bare.

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