The term applies to a large stream or a small river.
The cognate of burn in standard English is "bourn", "bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like Bournemouth, King's Somborne, Holborn, Melbourne.
Brunnen), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like Paderborn in Germany.
Both the English and German words derive from the same Proto-Germanic root.
[2] 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" or "auld" in placenames.)