Barendrecht (Dutch: [ˈbaːrə(n)ˌdrɛxt] ⓘ) is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, near Rotterdam, South Holland.

The name "Barendrecht" is derived from the Germanic word birni, translated as "mud" or "muddy", and the Latin word trāiectum translated as "to cross (a river)" to denote a muddy river crossing.

[5][6] The current municipality of Barendrecht is located in the area of three former fiefdoms: East-Barendrecht, West-Barendrecht, and Carnisse.

The foreign origin of the municipality was 7,99% Western, 4% Suriname, 3% Turkey, 2% Morocco, 1% Dutch Caribbean and 8,81% from other countries.

[28] Athletes from Barendrecht have also had individual success, mostly notably quadruple Olympic swimming champion Inge de Bruijn.

[33] Thieu van de Wouw, member of the CDA party, was major of Barendrecht from 1989 to his retirement in 2005.

The municipal elections of 2014 had the following results: the local party Our Interest Barendrecht won nine out of 29 seats, Christian Democratic Appeal won the largest share of the popular vote of all national parties in that election.

Barendrecht is faced with the same issues as other suburban municipalities in providing public services and managing land-use planning.

[44] Earlier studies had suggested to avoid trials in densely populated areas, such as Barendrecht, to eliminate the risk of a repeat of the Lake Nyos disaster.

[45] The suggestion to make Barendrecht a test site was met with local criticism, because of the experimental nature of the plan and because no ongoing monitoring of the fields would be performed.

[48] The central government initially opted to overrule the council; they reversed their opinion in October 2010 and cancelled the plan.

[53][54] A major junction between the three railway lines north of the station was the site of a train accident in 2009.

[55][56] As a suburb of Rotterdam, commuters in Barendrecht have access to extensive local transport services operated by RET, whose tram line 25 runs north-south through the western part of Barendrecht with its southern terminus in Carnisselande.

The tram runs to the Rotterdam Centraal railway station through the city centre and beyond to its northern terminus in Schiebroek.