bairnlike

bairn (“child; baby”) +‎ -like

bairnlike (comparative more bairnlike, superlative most bairnlike)

1. (Scotland and Northern England, rare) Like a bairn; childlike.
   • 1876, Sarah R. Whitehead, “Daft Davie”, in Daft Davie and Other Sketches of Scottish Life and Character‎:

     […] and then it was a pleasure to me — yes, a pleasure, Mr. Lowrie, to spend a' my spare time by his bedside, and listen to his bairnlike thoughts about Divine things.

   • 1896, James Matthew Barrie, Sentimental Tommy, Toronto: The Copp, Clark Company, page 131:

     She offered him sixpence for a letter, any letter he liked, but of course he refused it. Then she prigged with him just to let her hold one in her hands, for said she, bairnlike, “I used to get one every day.”

   • 1991, Rebecca Sinclair, Wild Scottish Embrace, Kensington Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 237:

     His green eyes sparkled with an exuberance that looked almost bairnlike.

   • 2016, Shirley McKay, Martinmas‎, Birlinn Ltd, →ISBN:

     Thomas turned thirteen. […] Yet he had not thrown off the trappings of a child. He was small and bairnlike, and his skin was smooth. His voice, when he sang the psalms, was as faint and feeble as a boy of nine's, rising sweet and tremulous.

• juvenile, kiddish; see also Thesaurus:childlike

• bairnish

• brainlike