Etymology Borrowed from Scots bairn, from Middle English bern, barn, from Old English bearn, from Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną. Doublet of barn. Compare West Frisian bern.
She moved about the country like a ghost, gathering herbs in dark loanings, lingering in kirkyairds, and casting a blight on innocent bairns.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
They say that a shag is good for an unborn child, they get the circulation of blood, or some shite. The least ah kin dae is take an interest in the bairn’s welfare.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 219:
1 more example
Bobby Shaftoe's getten a bairn For to dandle in his arm; In his arm and on his knee, Bobby Shaftoe loves me.1998, Jonathan Langley, Collins Bedtime Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and Tales, Bobby Shaftoe, page 87:
Etymology Borrowed from Scots bairn, from Middle English bern, barn, from Old English bearn, from Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną. Doublet of barn. Compare West Frisian bern.
Go and kick the man that bairned your Nancy.1992, Robin Jenkins, Happy for the Child, page 108:
Just because he's signed up fir the fuckin army again, six bastard years this time, and bairned some slag.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 171: