barren.
Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.
Meaning & usage
Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.
I silently wept as my daughter's husband rejected her. What would she do now that she was no longer a maiden but also barren?
Not bearing seed or fruit.
Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation; desert, waste.
Devoid, lacking.
Devoid of interest or attraction, poor, bleak.
Unproductive, fruitless, unprofitable; empty, hollow, vain.
Mentally dull or unproductive; stupid or intellectually fallow.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a cognate of English bare.
An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.
In particular, a usually elevated and flat expanse of land that only supports the growth of small trees and shrubs, and sometimes mosses or heathers, berries, and other marshy or moory vegetation, but little agriculture and few people.
The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a cognate of English bare.
Try it on your idea.
barren has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.