Scottish Words and Phrases
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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.
In this lens you'll find some 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!
Regional Variations
A few examples
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.
Scottish Language Reference Books
The Concise Scots Dictionary
Amazon Price: $30.00 (as of 07/11/2009) 
A Dictionary of Scots Words & Phrases in Current Use (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebook)
Amazon Price: $10.16 (as of 07/11/2009)
Perspectives on the Older Scottish Tongue
Amazon Price: $54.00 (as of 07/11/2009)
The English Language in Scotland: An Introduction to Scots
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
Scots: The Language of the People
Amazon Price: $16.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
Common Scottish words A - E
Auld - old
Baffies - slippers
Birl - twirl, spin
Blether - chatter
Brae - hill
Braw - excellent
Breeks - trousers (pants)
Canny - careful
Close - alley
Cowp - tip over
Crabbit - bad tempered
Dicht - wipe
Doo - dove or woodpigeon
Dreich - damp and dismal weather
Drookit - soaked through
Dunt - bump
Eejit - idiot
Een - eyes
Scottish Literature and Poetry
The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature
Amazon Price: $40.00 (as of 07/11/2009)
Voices From Their Ain Countrie: The Poems of Marion Angus and Violet Jacob (ASLS Annual Volumes)
Amazon Price: $18.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
Beyond Scotland: New Contexts for Twentieth-Century Scottish Literature (Scroll 3)
Amazon Price: $70.00 (as of 07/11/2009)
Modern Scottish Poetry
Amazon Price: $27.36 (as of 07/11/2009)
The Scots' Literary Tradition
Amazon Price: $27.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
Common Scottish words F - O
Flit - move house
Forbye - besides
Forkietail - earwig
Gey - very or rather
Girn - complain
Greet - weep
Haver - talk nonsense
Hurl - a ride
Jag - prick
Keek - peep
Ken - know, understand
Kirk - church
Lug - ear
Lum - chimney
Messages - shopping, usually groceries
Mind - remember
Muckle - large or a lot
My lane - on my own
Oxters - underarms
3 Different Scottish Dialects
Can you tell the difference?
- North-East
- The dialect of Aberdeenshire is called the Doric, distinctive and musical. In this clip a native Doric speaker talks about his schooldays.
- 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. Two friends talk about elocution lessons in childhood.
- Shetland
- Shetlanders have a dialect very different to the rest of Scotland, with Scandinavian influences. This piece is read by eminent poet Christine de Luca.
Common Scottish Words P - Z
Peely-wally - pale, wan
Pooch - pocket
Puckle - a few
Puddock - frog
Puggled - tired out after effort
Quine - young girl
Reek - stink or smoke
Roon - round
Sassenach - an English person
Scunnered - fed up with something
Shoogle - shake
Stoat - bounce
Thole - put up with
Thrawn - stubborn
Waur - worse
Wheech - zoom
Yon - that
Books Featuring the Scots Tongue
Sunset Song (Penguin Classics)
Amazon Price: $11.70 (as of 07/11/2009)
The Oxford Book of Scottish Short Stories (Oxford Books of Prose)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
Trainspotting
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/11/2009)
Haud Yer Wheesht: Your Scottish Granny's Favorite Sayings
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
The Wee Scot Book: Scottish Poems and Stories
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/11/2009)
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.
Scotland at CafePress
Hielan' Mon T-Shirt
Price: 24.99
"To A Haggis" BBQ Apron
Price: 19.99
Sweatshirt: #1 Scottish Grannie
Price: 41.99
'Pipes Test Jersey
Price: 27.99
Scotland's History and People
(and a wee bit of blowing our own trumpet)
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/11/2009)
Scottish Customs: From The Cradle To The Grave
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/11/2009)
Scotland: A Concise History, Revised Edition
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/11/2009)
The Scottish 100: Portraits of History's Most Influential Scots
Amazon Price: $18.00 (as of 07/11/2009)
Scotland: The Story of a Nation
Amazon Price: $15.30 (as of 07/11/2009)
Scottish Toasts
- 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!
Scottish words in song
A Popular Nursery Rhyme in Scots
Wee WIllie Winkie
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?'
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 light hearted 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. Clue: This is a request for three pastry products
- 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.
- The Scottish Parliament Website in Scots
- The Scottish Parliament website has a welcome page which can be read in different languages, including Scots.
Homecoming Scotland 2009
Join in our celebrations
To find out more visit Homecoming Scotland 2009.
One Final Thing
Do you have words to add? Leave them here, along with your comments!
mrscookie wrote...
Loads of interesting information on the Scottish dialects. I'm English and didn't really have any problems understanding the words but I was suprised how many of them we use here in Yorkshire !!!
Great Lens,
Posted March 09, 2009
Sheona wrote...
Brilliant lens.
How about "muckle" as another common word...
Posted September 26, 2008
Hi,
Nice lens! It is very good theme of presenting the scottish language.These words are good but I did not get some of them.
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Posted September 15, 2008
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