Barrett

B3A1R1R1E1T1T1
/ˈbæɹɪt/

proper noun

An English or Irish surname from Anglo-Norman.

OriginMiddle English Baraud ← Norman Baraud ← Old French barat →
CommonScrabble 9
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper nounBarrett (countable and uncountable, plural Barretts)

plural Barretts · alternative Barret · alternative Barritt

  1. countableuncountableAn English or Irish surname from Anglo-Norman.

    Recently, the Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett spoke together publicly about how members of the court speak civilly to one another while disagreeing, sometimes vigorously, about the law.

    2024 April 3, Stephen Breyer, “Stephen Breyer: The Supreme Court I Served On Was Made Up of Friends”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2024
  2. A placename
    1. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Robb Township, Posey County, Indiana.
    2. countableuncountableA minor city in Grant County, Minnesota.
    3. countableuncountableA township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
    4. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Harris County, Texas.
    5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community and coal town in Boone County, West Virginia.
    6. countableuncountableA settlement on Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.

Origin

  1. Old Frenchbarat“trickery, deception”
  2. NormanBaraud
  3. Middle EnglishBaraud“quarrelsome”
  4. EnglishBarrett

From the Irish surname converged from several origins, including Barόid, Bairéid, Middle English Baraud (“quarrelsome”) from Old English, and Norman Baraud, from Old French barat (“trickery, deception”).

More words from Middle English, Norman, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Tarbert
Cite this entry
APA

Barrett. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Barrett

MLA

“Barrett.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Barrett. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Barrett,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Barrett.

Source: Barrett on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.