In local usage, a burn is a kind of

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

. The term applies to a large

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

or a small

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

. The word is used in

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and

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(especially

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

) and in parts of

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

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and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Etymology

The

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

of ''burn'' in standard English is "bourn", " bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like ''

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

'', '' King's Somborne'', ''

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

'', ''

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

''. A cognate in German is ''Born'' (contemp. ''Brunnen''), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like ''

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

'' in Germany. Both the English and German words derive from the same

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

root. Scots Gaelic has the word ''bùrn'', also cognate, but which means "

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

"; the actual Gaelic for a "burn" is ''allt'' (sometimes anglicised as "ault" or "auld" in placenames.)

Examples

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

* Broxburn * Bucks Burn * Burnside * Braid Burn * Dighty Burn * Burn Dale, East Donegal * Burnfoot, Inishowen * Burn of Elsick * Burn of Pheppie * Burn of Muchalls * Bannockburn * Crawfordsburn * Cronaniv Burn, ''

Gaoth Dobhair Gweedore ( , officially known by its Irish language name, ) is a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) district, and parish, located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. It stretches some from Glasserchoo ...

'' * Gisburn * Hebburn * Jordan Burn * Kilburn (disambiguation) * Lyburn *

Ouseburn The Ouseburn is a small river in Newcastle upon Tyne, England that flows through the city into the River Tyne, England, River Tyne. It gives its name to the Ouseburn Valley and the Ouseburn Ward (country subdivision), electoral ward for Newcas ...

* Roseburn * Routeburn Track * Seaburn * Seaton Burn * Shirburn * Tedburn *

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...

* Westburn * Whitburn * Whitlawburn * Winkburn * Winterburn * Wooburn

References

External links

Scottish Words and Place-Names:Place-Name Glossary
{{authority control Water streams Landforms Northumbrian folklore Rural Scotland Scots language Scottish English Scottish toponyms Rivers of Scotland Rivers of Northumberland Rivers of Ireland