barren

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
  2. adjective providing no shelter or sustenance
  3. adjective not bearing offspring

Etymology

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 doublet of bare.

In classic literature

Synonyms

waste, wasteland

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