Scottish Words and Phrases
Scottish Words and Phrases
Scottish words and phrases can be a source of bewilderment to those who don't live there. Even native Scots can fail to understand some of them, due to regional variations of words and dialects. Upcoming generations, learning from tv imports and text-speak, are losing the ability to speak native Scots.
Here you'll find some common Scottish words and phrases, along with their meanings. Use them if you want to feel closer to your heritage, impress your Scottish acquaintances, or simply if you want to baffle your non-Scottish friends!
Common Scottish words A - E
Abune - above
Afore - before
Ahint - behind
A'place - everywhere
Auld - old
Ava' - at all
Baffies - slippers
Birl - twirl, spin
Blether - chatter
Bowk - retch or vomit
Brae - hill
Braw - excellent
Breeks - trousers (pants)
Canny - careful
Close - alley
Couthie - pleasant, nice
Cowp - tip over
Crabbit - bad tempered
Cratur - creature
Cried - named
Daunder - stroll
Dee - die
Dicht - wipe
Dreich - damp and dismal weather
Drookit - soaked through
Drouth - dry weather
Dunt - bump
Eejit - idiot
Een - eyes
Efter - after
Regional Variations
A few examples
Many non-Scots don't realise that the language of the country varies from region to region. A person born and bred in Aberdeen doesn't sound the same as someone from Glasgow, or Shetland, or Edinburgh, and so on.
Often, people from different areas will use different words for the same thing.
Take the number one for example. It can be wan, ane, een or yin. A small child tends to be a wean in the west, a bairn in the east.
In Aberdeenshire a girl is a quine, a boy a loon, but you won't hear those words in other parts of the country.
It really is a rich and varied language we have here in Scotland.
Books Featuring the Scots Tongue
Common Scottish words F - N
Fa' - fall
Feart - afraid
Fell - very
Fleg - a fright or to frighten
Flit - move house
Forbye - besides
Forkietail - earwig
Gaithert - gathered
Gang - go
Gey - very or rather
Girn - complain
Glaikit - stupid, foolish
Greet - weep
Guid - good
Hairse - hoarse
Haiver - talk nonsense
Hame - home
Haud - hold
Heft - lift up
Hurl - a ride
Isnae - is not
Ither - other
Jag - prick, injection
Jeely - jam (jelly)
Jyle - prison
Keek - peep
Keeker -black eye
Ken - know, understand
Kirk - church
Kist - chest
Laird - lord, landowner
Lang - long
Licht - light
Loon, loun - boy
Lug - ear
Lum - chimney
Mair - more
Makkit - made
Messages - shopping, usually groceries
Mind - remember
Muckle - large or a lot
My lane - on my own
Nane - none
Neb - nose
Nippin' - nagging
3 Different Scottish Dialects - Can you tell the difference?
Listen to three of the many Scottish regional accents, all markedly different. All are courtesy of the Scots Language Centre.
- North-East
The dialect of Aberdeenshire is called the Doric, distinctive and musical. These clips include native Doric speakers talking about schooldays, working in the herring industry and tattie howking (harvesting the potato crop). - Central West
The Central West region, covering mainly Glasgow and Ayrshire, is possibly the accent many outside Scotland think of as being a Scottish accent. - Shetland
Shetlanders have a dialect very different to the rest of Scotland, with Scandinavian influences.
Scottish words in song
The first of these videos is a traditional song that almost every Scottish child learns. The second, a poem of love and heartbreak written by Robert Burns. The third was originally a drinking song, but is now used to say farewell.
Common Scottish Words O - Z
Oorsels - Ourselves
Orra - shabby, dirty
Ower - over
Oxters - underarms
Palaver - fuss
Peely-wally - pale, wan
Peerie - small
Pooch - pocket
Puckle - a few
Puddock - frog
Puggled - tired out after effort
Quine - young girl
Reek - stink or smoke
Reid - red
Roon - round
Sassenach - an English person
Scaffie - dustbin man, garbage collector
Scunnered - fed up with something
Shoogle - shake
Skelp - smack
Stoat - bounce
Taen - taken
Thole - put up with
Thrawn - stubborn
Trauchle - drudge
Twa - two
Wabbit - exhausted
Wad - would
Waur - worse
Wheech - zoom
Wheesht - shush, be quiet
Yon - that
Scottish Language Reference Books
Scottish Proverbs and Sayings
- Lang may yer lum reek!
A salutation wishing long life and prosperity. Literally, long may your chimney smoke.
- Haste ye back.
Come back to visit soon.
- Awa' an' bile yer heid!
Get lost! Literally, go and boil your head.
- Givin' it laldy.
Doing something with gusto.
- Haud yer wheest!
Be quiet!
- Fit Like?
An Aberdeen greeting, meaning how are you?
- Dinnae fash yersel.
Don't trouble yourself.
- In the name of the wee man!
Oh for goodness' sake.
- You're a long time deid.
Enjoy life now.
- Up to high doh.
In a state of anxiety.
- Sic as ye gie, sic wull ye get.
You'll get out of life as much as you put in.
- Ye'll get yir heid in yir hauns an yir lugs ti pley wi.
You'll get in big trouble. Literally, you'll get your head in your hands and your ears to play with!
- It's a sair fecht.
It's a hard life, or something that troubles or disappoints.
- High heid yin.
The boss; the highest in rank.
Scottish Toasts
Try to decipher these!
- Some hae meat, and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat
And sae the Lord be thankit.
- Here's tae the heath, the hill and the heather,
The bonnet, the plaid, the kilt and the feather.
- May the best ye hae ivver seen be the warst ye'll ivver see.
May the moose ne'er leave yer girnal wi a tear-drap in its ee.
May ye aye keep hail an hertie till ye'r auld eneuch tae dee.
May ye aye juist be sae happie as A wuss ye aye tae be.
- Where'er ye bide in the world sae wide,
We wish ye a neuk on the sunny side,
Wi' muckle o' love and little o' care,
A wee bit pursie wi' siller to spare,
Yer ain wee ingle when day is spent,
In a wee bit housie wi' hearts content.
- Here's tae us; wha's like us?
Gey few, and they're a' deid.
Mair's the pity!
Scotland's History and People - (and a wee bit of blowing our own trumpet)
A Popular Nursery Rhyme in Scots
Wee WIllie Winkie
This is the original first verse, written in 1841 by Scot William Miller:
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,
Up stairs and doon stairs in his nicht-goun,
Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,
'Are the weans in their bed, for it's noo ten o'clock?'
You can read the other 4 verses, along with translations of some of the words, at Rampant Scotland.
Scots Language Links
- Scottish Poetry - Index
A large selection of Scottish Poetry, many traditional, and with English translations. - Elphinstone Kist
A site dedicated to the Doric dialect, with lots of stories and poems from traditional to contemporary, and covering a wide range of subjects. - Scottish Words Illustrated Home Page.
An ongoing entertaining lighthearted selection of Scottish words illustrated with cartoons - including translations into English for all tumshieheeds, as well as a quiz. Sometimes phrases will be incorporated, such as: Twaplaineensan aninginan ana. - SCOTS Project - Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech
The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech (SCOTS Project) is an ongoing project to build a corpus of modern-day written and spoken texts in Scottish English and varieties of Scots. - Scots Language Centre
Scottish dialects in song, speech and film.
How To Pronounce The Word 'Highlander'
Few people outside Scotland get this right...:)
The emphasis is on the first syllable, with the second shortened, so it's:
HIGH-l'nder
Not
High -LANDER
Lowlander is much the same.
One Final Thing
People of Scotland are known as Scots or Scottish - not Scotch. Don't call us that, we hate it!
