at the Scottish festival there were traditional contests of strength and endurance, Celtic fiddlers, and groups of bairns performing Highland flings
Recent Examples on the WebLater, Marsali once again fails to read the room and talks to Ian about all of her bairns and the joys of a big family.—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bairn.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English bern, barn, from Old English bearn & Old Norse barn; akin to Old High German barn child
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of bairn was
before the 12th century
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