Etymology

bairnish

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Today it means: Having the manners of a child; childish; silly. Full definition →

Middle English *bernis ← Old English *bearnisċ ← Old Norse bernskr
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*barniskaz“childish”
  2. Old Norse · derived frombernskr“childish”
  3. Old English · inherited from*bearnisċ
  4. Middle English · inherited from*bernis
  5. English todaybairnish

From Middle English *bernis, *barnisch, from Old English *bearnisċ and Old Norse bernskr (“childish”), from Proto-Germanic *barniskaz (“childish”), equivalent to bairn + -ish. Cognate with Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐍂𐌽𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (barnisks, “childish”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.