Standard Lemma guide

barn

name · noun · verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, General-American: [ˈbɑɹn]
  • Canada, General-American: [ˈbɑɻn]
  • Ireland, Scotland: [ˈbaɹn]
  • [ˈbɒən] non-rhotic
  • [ˈbɒɹn] rhotic
  • General-South-African, Received-Pronunciation: [ˈbɑːn]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • [ˈbäːn] Australian, Wales, Boston, New Zealand, parts of England
  • [ˈbɐ̞ːn] Australian, Wales, Boston, New Zealand, parts of England
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)n
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA1 R N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A diminutive of the male given names Barney, Barnabas, Barnaby, or Barnett.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A unisex given name transferred from the surname; diminutive of Barnard (“surname”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: agriculture, business, lifestyle

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A unit of surface area equal to 10−28 square metres.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: nuclear physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An arena.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Topics: ball-games, basketball, games, hobbies, ice-hockey, lifestyle, skating, sports

Examples

  • Maple Leaf Gardens was a grand old barn.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A warm and cozy place, especially a bedroom; a roost.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A child.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: certain Northern England dialects; otherwise obsolete; certain Northern England dialects; otherwise obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To lay up in a barn.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: imbarn

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: farm building

Narrower terms: cowbarn, cowshed, cow barn, cowhouse, byre, tithe barn

10

noun

Meaning 10

(physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: b

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: area unit, square measure

History

Etymology

* Clipping of Barney. * Clipping of Barnett. * Clipping of Barnabas. * Clipping of Barnaby. * Clipping of Barnard.

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.

From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn (“child, son, offspring, progeny”) and Old Norse barn (“child”). Doublet of bairn. Cognate to West Frisian bern (“child, children”), Middle Dutch baren (“child”).

Across languages

Translations

189 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: hambar — building
  • Albanian: haur — building
  • Southern Altai: алмар (almar) — building
  • Arabic: حَظِيرَة (ḥaẓīra) — building
  • Arabic: زَرِيبَة (zarība) — building
  • Arabic: شونة (šūna) — building
  • Aramaic: ܐܕܪܐ (ʾeddərā) — building
  • Aramaic: ܐܘܨܪܐ (ʾawṣərā) — building
  • Armenian: գոմ (gom) — building
  • Armenian: փարախ (pʻarax) — building
  • Armenian: ախոռ (axoṙ) — building
  • Azerbaijani: anbar — building
  • Belarusian: амба́р (ambár) — building
  • Belarusian: сві́ран (svíran) — building
  • Belarusian: клець (kljecʹ) — building
  • Belarusian: хлеў (xljew) — building
  • Belarusian: стадо́ла (stadóla) — building
  • Belarusian: ёўня (jównja) — building
  • Belarusian: клу́ня (klúnja) — building
  • Belarusian: асе́ць (asjécʹ) — building
  • Bulgarian: обо́р (obór) — building
  • Bulgarian: пле́вня (plévnja) — building
  • Bulgarian: хамба́р (hambár) — building
  • Catalan: pallissa — building
  • Catalan: pallera — building
  • Cebuano: kamalig — building
  • Chinese Mandarin: 穀倉 /谷仓 (gǔcāng) — building
  • Chinese Mandarin: 糧倉 /粮仓 (liángcāng) — building
  • Crimean Tatar: anbar — building
  • Czech: stodola — building
  • Danish: lade — building
  • Danish: stald — building
  • Dutch: schuur — building
  • Esperanto: garbejo — building
  • Estonian: rehi — building
  • Estonian: küün — building
  • Faroese: fjós — building
  • Finnish: lato — building
  • Finnish: aitta — building
  • Finnish: karjasuoja — building
  • Finnish: navetta — building
  • French: grange — building
  • French: fenil — building
  • North Frisian: Buusem — building
  • Galician: celeiro — building
  • Georgian: ბეღელი (beɣeli) — building
  • Georgian: გომი (gomi) — building
  • Georgian: გომური (gomuri) — building
  • German: Scheune — building
  • German: Scheuer — building
  • German: Stadel — building
  • German: Stall — building
  • German: Schuppen — building
  • Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐍃𐍄𐍃 (bansts) — building
  • Greek: αχυρώνας (achyrónas) — building
  • Ancient Greek: ἀχυρών (akhurṓn) — building
  • Ancient Greek: καλιά (kaliá) — building
  • Hebrew: אָסָם (asám) — building
  • Hiligaynon: kamalig — building
  • Hindi: खलिहान (khalihān) — building
  • Hungarian: csűr — building
  • Hungarian: pajta — building
  • Hungarian: istálló — building
  • Icelandic: hlaða — building
  • Indonesian: gudang pertanian — building
  • Indonesian: kandang — building
  • Ingrian: tanvas — building
  • Irish: scioból — building
  • Italian: granaio — building
  • Italian: fienile — building
  • Italian: stalla — building
  • Japanese: 納屋 (naya) — building
  • Japanese: 家畜小屋 (kachikugoya) — building
  • Jeju: 헛간 (heotgan) — building
  • Kazakh: сарай (sarai) — building
  • Kazakh: қамба (qamba) — building
  • Khmer: តឹក (tək) — building
  • Khmer: ជង្រុក (cɔɔcŭəngruk) — building
  • Konkani: गोटो (goṭo) — building
  • Korean: 헛간 (heotgan) — building
  • Northern Kurdish: kadîn — building
  • Kyrgyz: сарай (saray) — building
  • Lao: ເລົ້າ (lao) — building
  • Lao: ອູ່ (ʼū) — building
  • Latgalian: klāvs — building
  • Latin: horreum — building
  • Latin: stadīle — building
  • Latvian: kūts — building
  • Latvian: klēts — building
  • Lithuanian: tvartas — building
  • Lithuanian: svirnas — building
  • Lithuanian: kluonas — building
  • Luxembourgish: Scheier — building
  • Macedonian: пле́вна (plévna) — building
  • Macedonian: а́мбар (ámbar) — building
  • Malay: bangsal — building
  • Mòcheno: stòll — building
  • Mongolian: амбаар (ambaar) — building
  • Norman: grange — building
  • Norwegian Bokmål: låve — building
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: låve — building
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: løe — building
  • Old East Slavic: овинъ (ovinŭ) — building
  • Ossetian: хордон (xordon) — building
  • Ossetian: гон (gon) — building
  • Persian: انبار کاه (anbâr-e kâh) — building
  • Persian: کاهدان (kâhdân) — building
  • Persian: طویله (tavile) — building
  • Plautdietsch: Staul — building
  • Polabian: gord — building
  • Polish: stodoła — building
  • Polish: gumno — building
  • Portuguese: celeiro — building
  • Romanian: hambar — building
  • Romanian: șură — building
  • Russian: ови́н (ovín) — building
  • Russian: амба́р (ambár) — building
  • Russian: сара́й (saráj) — building
  • Russian: гумно́ (gumnó) — building
  • Saanich: SOX̱ELÁU ̧TW̱ — building
  • Saanich: MUSMESÁU ̧TW̱ — building
  • Saanich: STIḴIUÁU ̧TW̱ — building
  • Northern Sami: návet — building
  • Scottish Gaelic: sabhal — building
  • Serbo-Croatian: шта́гаљ — building
  • Serbo-Croatian: а̏мба̄р — building
  • Serbo-Croatian: štágalj — building
  • Serbo-Croatian: ȁmbār — building
  • Slovak: stodola — building
  • Slovene: hlev — building
  • Slovene: štala — building
  • Lower Sorbian: brožnja — building
  • Spanish: galpón — building
  • Spanish: pósito — building
  • Spanish: trox — building
  • Spanish: troj — building
  • Spanish: troje — building
  • Spanish: hórreo — building
  • Spanish: cilla — building
  • Spanish: cillero — building
  • Spanish: alfolí — building
  • Spanish: troja — building
  • Sudovian: klēte — building
  • Swedish: ladugård — building
  • Swedish: lagård — building
  • Swedish: lada — building
  • Tagalog: kamalig — building
  • Tajik: анбор (anbor) — building
  • Thai: ยุ้ง (yúng) — building
  • Thai: โรงนา (roong-naa) — building
  • Turkish: ahır — building
  • Turkish: ambar — building
  • Turkmen: ammar — building
  • Ukrainian: клу́ня (klúnja) — building
  • Ukrainian: амба́р (ambár) — building
  • Ukrainian: сара́й (saráj) — building
  • Ukrainian: гу́мно (húmno) — building
  • Ukrainian: комо́ра (komóra) — building
  • Ukrainian: стодо́ла (stodóla) — building
  • Ukrainian: о́сить (ósytʹ) — building
  • Unami: aèsësikaon — building
  • Uzbek: omborxona — building
  • Uzbek: ombor — building
  • Vietnamese: kho — building
  • Vietnamese: vựa — building
  • Vietnamese: lẫm — building
  • Volapük: lecek — building
  • Volapük: jevodalecek — building
  • Volapük: veteralecek — building
  • Walloon: gregne — building
  • Walloon: xheure — building
  • Welsh: ysgubor — building
  • Yakut: хотон (qoton) — building
  • Yoruba: àká — building
  • Yoruba: abà — building
  • Yoruba: ahéré — building
  • Finnish: barni — unit
  • French: barn — unit
  • German: Barn — unit
  • Greek: μπαρν (barn) — unit
  • Italian: barn — unit
  • Polish: barn — unit
  • Portuguese: barn — unit
  • Russian: барн (barn) — unit
  • Spanish: barn — unit
  • Swedish: barn — unit
  • Spanish: entrujar — Translations
  • Spanish: entrojar — Translations
  • Spanish: atrojar — Translations