In Scotland, North East England and some parts of Ireland and New Zealand, burn is a name for watercourses from large streams to small rivers. The term is also used in lands settled by the Scots and in other countries, notably in Otago, New Zealand, where much of the naming was done by Northumbrian-born surveyor and son of a Scot John Turnbull Thomson.
Its cognate in contemporary English is "bourn" or "bourne", which is retained in placenames like Bournemouth and Broxbourne and derives from the Saxon "brunna".[1] Its use is restricted.
Scots Gaelic has the word bùrn, also cognate, but which means "fresh water"; the actual Gaelic for a "burn" is allt (sometimes anglicised as "ault" in placenames.)
The word is chiefly of Scots derivation and is regular used by speakers of the Scots tongue.
A cognate in German is "Born"[2] (contemp. "Brunnen"), meaning 'well', 'spring' or 'source'.