Phrase guide

barn owl

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈbɑːn ˌaʊl/
  • /ˈbɑɹn ˌaʊəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An owl of the species Tyto alba, often having a white face and commonly found in barns and other farm buildings.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: disc owl

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

mottled buff and white owl often inhabiting barns and other structures; important in rodent control

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Tyto alba

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: owl, bird of Minerva, bird of night, hooter

History

Etymology

From barn + owl.

Across languages

Translations

83 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: kukuvajka mjekroshe — Tyto alba
  • Asturian: curuxa — Tyto alba
  • Asturian: curuxa real — Tyto alba
  • Asturian: rillu — Tyto alba
  • Asturian: paxarón del aceite — Tyto alba
  • Basque: hontz zuri — Tyto alba
  • Belarusian: сіпуха звычайная (sipuxa zvyčajnaja) — Tyto alba
  • Breton: grell voutin — Tyto alba
  • Bulgarian: забулена сова (zabulena sova) — Tyto alba
  • Burmese: လင်ကောင်ပိုး (langkaungpui:) — Tyto alba
  • Burmese: ငှက်ဆိုး (hngakhcui:) — Tyto alba
  • Catalan: òliba — Tyto alba
  • Chinese Mandarin: 倉鴞 /仓鸮 (cāngxiāo) — Tyto alba
  • Czech: sova pálená — Tyto alba
  • Danish: slørugle — Tyto alba
  • Dutch: kerkuil — Tyto alba
  • Esperanto: turstrigo — Tyto alba
  • Estonian: loorkakk — Tyto alba
  • Faroese: hjartaugla — Tyto alba
  • Finnish: tornipöllö — Tyto alba
  • French: chouette effraie — Tyto alba
  • West-Frisian: goudûle — Tyto alba
  • Friulian: barbezuan — Tyto alba
  • Galician: curuxa común — Tyto alba
  • Galician: curuxa — Tyto alba
  • German: Schleiereule — Tyto alba
  • Greek: πεπλόγλαυκα (peplóglafka) — Tyto alba
  • Ancient Greek: τυτώ (tutṓ) — Tyto alba
  • Hebrew: תנשמת (tinshemet) — Tyto alba
  • Hungarian: gyöngybagoly — Tyto alba
  • Icelandic: turnugla — Tyto alba
  • Indonesian: serak jawa — Tyto alba
  • Irish: scréachóg reilige — Tyto alba
  • Italian: barbagianni — Tyto alba
  • Japanese: 面梟 (menfukurō) — Tyto alba
  • Japanese: メンフクロウ (menfukurō) — Tyto alba
  • Korean: 가면올빼미 (gamyeonolppaemi) — Tyto alba
  • Latin: parra — Tyto alba
  • Latvian: plīvurpūce — Tyto alba
  • Lithuanian: liepsnotoji pelėda — Tyto alba
  • Macedonian: дамчест був (damčest buv) — Tyto alba
  • Malay: pungguk jelapang — Tyto alba
  • Maltese: barbaġann — Tyto alba
  • Manx: hullad soailt — Tyto alba
  • Manx: hullad vane — Tyto alba
  • Manx: caillagh oie — Tyto alba
  • Nahuatl: chicuahtli — Tyto alba
  • Navajo: biniiʼłigaii — Tyto alba
  • Norman: blianc cahouain — Tyto alba
  • Norwegian: tårnugle — Tyto alba
  • Occitan: dama blanca — Tyto alba
  • Occitan: caús — Tyto alba
  • Polish: płomykówka — Tyto alba
  • Portuguese: coruja-das-torres — Tyto alba
  • Romanian: strigă — Tyto alba
  • Romansh: tschuetta velada — Tyto alba
  • Russian: сипу́ха обыкнове́нная (sipúxa obyknovénnaja) — Tyto alba
  • Sami: toardnaskuolfi — Tyto alba
  • Sardinian: cuccufiu — Tyto alba
  • Sardinian: stria bianca — Tyto alba
  • Sardinian: istria bianca — Tyto alba
  • Scottish Gaelic: cailleach-oidhche — Tyto alba
  • Serbo-Croatian: кукувиjа — Tyto alba
  • Serbo-Croatian: kukuvija — Tyto alba
  • Serbo-Croatian: kukuvija drijemavica — Tyto alba
  • Slovak: plamienka driemavá — Tyto alba
  • Slovene: pegasta sova — Tyto alba
  • Lower Sorbian: wokata sowa — Tyto alba
  • Lower Sorbian: pisana sowa — Tyto alba
  • Upper Sorbian: wokata sowa — Tyto alba
  • Upper Sorbian: pisana sowa — Tyto alba
  • Spanish: lechuza — Tyto alba
  • Spanish: lechuza común — Tyto alba
  • Swahili: bundi — Tyto alba
  • Swedish: tornuggla — Tyto alba
  • Thai: นกแสก (nók-sɛ̀ɛk) — Tyto alba
  • Tiwi: pinjoma — Tyto alba
  • Tiwi: pinjomwa — Tyto alba
  • Turkish: peçeli baykuş — Tyto alba
  • Ukrainian: сипуха (sypuxa) — Tyto alba
  • Vietnamese: cú lợn — Tyto alba
  • Welsh: tylluan wen — Tyto alba
  • Yucatec Maya: xoochʼ — Tyto alba