• IPA: /beɪn/

From Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn ("direct, prompt"), from Old Norse beinn.

bain

1. (now chiefly, dialectal) Ready; willing.
2. (now chiefly, dialectal) Direct; near; short; gain.

   That is the bainest way.

3. (Now chiefly dialectal) Limber; pliant; flexible.

bain

1. (now chiefly, dialectal) Readily; willingly.
2. (now chiefly, dialectal) Nearby; at hand.

From Middle English bayne~baine, from Old French bain, from Latin baneum, variant of balneum.

bain (plural bains)

1. (obsolete) A bath.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:10.11?rgn=div2;view=fulltext xj]”, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII:

     THus was sir Tramtryst longe there wel cherysshed / with the kynge and the quene / […] / So vpon a daye / the quene and la beale Isoud made a bayne for syre Tramtryst / And whan he was in his bayne / the quene and Isoud her doughter romed vp & doune in the chamber / and there whyles Gouernail and Heles attendyd vpon Tramtryst

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• As a Scottish surname, from Scottish Gaelic bàn, also found in McBain.
• As an English surname, from Old English ban.
• As a French - surname, from Old French bain, from Latin balneum.
• As a German - surname, spelling variant of Behn.

1. Surname.
2. A locality in Cypress County, Alberta.
3. A river in Lincolnshire, England.
4. A short river in North Yorkshire, England near Bainbridge.