different between bairn vs sprog

English

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Scots bairn, from Middle English bern, barn, from Old English bearn, from Proto-Germanic *barn?. Doublet of barn. Compare West Frisian bern.

Pronunciation

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /bern/, /b?rn/
• (Northumberland, North Durham, rhotic) IPA^(key): /?b???n/
• (UK, rhotic) IPA^(key): /?b???n/
• (UK, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /?b??n/, /?b??n/
• (US, Canada, Ireland, West Country) IPA^(key): /?b??n/

In some areas (e.g. Bradford), pronounced as IPA^(key): /?ba?n/. See Etymology 2 under barn.(See page 216 in Joseph Wright's A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill).

Noun

bairn (plural bairns)

1. (Scotland, and parts of Northern England) A child or baby.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:child.

Translations

Derived terms

• bairnie/bairny
• bairnish
• bairnless
• bairnlike
• shy bairns get nowt, shy bairns get noot
• stepbairn

References

• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]
• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ?ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “bairn”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• bairn in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

References

• “bairn”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Barin, Brain, Brian, Rabin, abrin, brain, brian

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn (“child, son, descendant, offspring, issue, progeny”) and Old Norse barn (“child”), both from Proto-Germanic *barn? (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?er- (“to bear, bring forth”). Cognate with West Frisian bern (“child”), North Frisian baern, born (“child”), Middle High German barn (“child, son, daughter”), Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic barn (“child”), Albanian barrë (“pregnancy, child”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bern/, /b?rn/

Noun

bairn (plural bairns)

1. child

Derived terms

• bairnheid
• bairnie
• grandbairn
• stap-bairn

Descendants

• ? English: bairn

Verb

bairn (third-person singular present bairns, present participle bairnin, past bairnt, past participle bairnt)

1. to make pregnant

References

• “bairn” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

English

Etymology

1940s, originally service slang. Perhaps from obsolete sprag (“lively young man”), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) enPR: spr?g, IPA^(key): /sp???/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /spr??/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /spr??/

Noun

sprog (countable and uncountable, plural sprogs)

1. (Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, informal, humorous) A child.
   • 1984 September 13, Donald Gould, Forum: Suck it and see, page 54,

     To test this hypothesis further, he and his mate Fifer persuaded 16 women, heavy with child, to read a story called The Cat in the Hat to their unborn sprogs, twice a day, during the last few weeks of their pregnancies.

   • 2008, Julian Knight, Wills, Probate, & Inheritance Tax For Dummies, UK Edition, unnumbered page,

     Any guardianship or trusts that you set up when your children were little sprogs may no longer be needed.

   • 2010, Brett Atkinson, Sarah Bennett, Scott Kennedy, New Zealand?s South Island, Lonely Planet, page 220,

     Kids will love the climbing wall and NZ?s highest vertical slide. If the sprogs get bored with reality, movie make-believe (p232) is right next door.

2. (Britain, military, RAF, slang, derogatory) A new recruit.
3. (uncountable, Australia, slang) Semen.
4. (countable, slang) A deflection-limiting safety device used in high performance hang gliders.

Synonyms

• (child): ankle-biter, bairn, crib lizard, crotch fruit, kid, rug rat
• (semen): cum, jizz, spoof

Derived terms

• sproglet

Verb

sprog (third-person singular simple present sprogs, present participle sprogging, simple past and past participle sprogged)

1. (Britain, Australia, slang, humorous) To produce children.
   • 2007, Libby Purves, Love Songs and Lies, unnumbered page,

     You must have been terrified, it?s not like today with film stars sprogging babies everywhere.

   • 2008, Lucy Diamond, Over You, unnumbered page,

     ‘How?s it all going with your boyo in the valleys? Any plans for sprogging or vows or anything serious yet?’

   • 2009, Peter James, Dead Tomorrow, unnumbered page,

     ‘Women lose their sexual drive after they?ve sprogged,’ Norman Potting interjected.

2. (Australia, slang) To ejaculate, to come.

   Synonyms: spoof; see also Thesaurus:ejaculate

   • 2004, Kathryn Fox, Malicious Intent, Pan MacMillan Australia, unnumbered page,

     The kid was fathered by the same guy who sprogged into Debbie Finch?s throat.

Anagrams

• progs

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German spr?ke. Cognate to German Sprache, Dutch spraak, Norwegian språk, Old English spr?? and Swedish språk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spr????/, [?sb????w], [?sb???w?]

Noun

sprog n (singular definite sproget, plural indefinite sprog)

1. language

Inflection

Derived terms

• babytegnsprog
• billedsprog
• dagligsprog
• enhedsskriftsprog
• fagsprog
• fremmedsprog
• gruppesprog
• kodesprog
• kropssprog
• kunstsprog
• lokalsprog
• plansprog
• regionalsprog
• rigssprog
• røversprog
• skriftsprog
• standardsprog
• talesprog
• tegnsprog