a'
all
aboot about agin
against
Aberdonian of/from Aberdeen -ae
‘have’ as a suffix to a verb (widae = would have)
Ah
I
aff
off
ain
own
aglae awry ain
own
an
and
ane
one
Athol brose sweet oatmeal dessert auld
old
Auld Reekie nickname for Edinburgh aw
all
awa
away
awfu, awfy
awfully
bairn child bannock
biscuit or scone
(The) Barras bauchle baw
outdoor shopping market in Glasgow (‘The Barrows’) worn-out shoe (literally), an old and dishevelled man (figuratively)
ball
baw heid
bald head
bawbee
an old penny
ben
mountain
ben
inside (e.g. ‘cam ben the hoose’)
besom
difficult woman
bile
boil (e.g. ‘Awa an bile yer heid!’ = ‘Get lost!’)
birl
spin
blae
blue
blether
(idle) chatter
boak vomit body person (e.g. ‘Whit's a body tae dae?’) bonnie, bonny
beautiful
brae slope braw fine bridie meat in pastry pie brose broth (e.g. made using oatmeal) bumfle
bump or raised area (in cloth)
burn stream but and ben cottage ca(w) call ca(w) canny be careful caber a log used in the traditional game of ‘tossing the caber’ cam
came
canny
careful
cauld cold caw
drive, turn (e.g. rope, wheel)
chust (Highland)
just
claes clothes claymore the traditional Scottish broad sword (‘Gaelic claidheamh mhor’ great sword) cloot cloth, clothing (‘ne'er cast a cloot till May be oot’ - do not discard clothing until May has past) clootie dumpling clype telltale
a pudding (like Christmas pudding) steamed in a cloth
cock-a-leekie coo
chicken and leek soup
cow
cootie
louse, nit
coup, cowp tumble crabbit
ill-tempered
croft(er)
small-scale farm(er)
crowdie
curd cheese
cud
could
dae
do
deid
dead
de'il
devil
doo
dove (or pigeon)
dook duck (in the sense of wetting - ‘dooking for apples’ is a Halloween game involving placing your face into a basin of water to retrieve a floating apple by biting on it) doon down (‘doon the water’ is a trip down the Clyde) dram small quantity of whisky dreep drip (also used of dropping off a wall) dreich
miserable, cold and wet (weather)
drookit
dripping wet
dug
dog
Dundonian
of/from Dundee
dunt bump dyke wall een
eyes
eejit
idiot
efter after fair
somewhat (e.g. ‘fair taken wi’)
fair (fortnight) traditional summer holiday period in Glasgow (the second two weeks of July, e.g. ‘where are ye gaun fur the fair?’) faither
father
fankle
(twisted) mess
fash
bother (‘dinnae fash yersel’ = don't bother yourself)
feart afraid first foot the first visitor in the New Year (who, for good luck, should be handsome and bring a gift) firth
estuary
footer
fiddle, nuisance
footer about forby(e)
mess about besides
fowk folk frae
from
frein friend fu
full (also, drunk)
fur
for
gae, gang
go
gallus
daring
(stupid) galoot
idiot
gaun going get het up
become agitated
gey
rather
girn
complain, cry (e.g. of child)
glaikit
stupid, glazed (expression)
Glescae
Glasgow
Glaswegian of/from Glasgow glaur mire gloaming
dusk
glen
valley
gonny
(are you) going to (e.g. ‘Gonny no shout sae loud?’)
gowk fool greet weep guid
good
hae
have
haggis
pudding made from minced meat (offal) and oatmeal
hame home hauf half haver talk nonsense Havers!
Nonsense!
haud hold (‘Haud yer wheesht!’ = ‘Shut up!’) hauf half haugh
meadow by a river
heavy
dark beer
heid
head
hen vocative term for a woman (e.g. ‘It's aw richt, hen’), or a general term of endearment for anyone hert
heart
het
heated
Hielan
Highland
high heid yin hing
high-up person in organisation
hang (‘hingin oot the windae’ is street-watching from one's window)
Hogmanay
New Year's Eve
hoose
house
Hoots!
Well then!
hough
shank of meat
howf(f)
inn
howk dig
huv
have
-icht
-ight (e.g. nicht, richt)
ilka
every
intae into -it
-ed (e.g. ‘wantit’ = ‘wanted’)
ither other Jimmy, Jock generic term for a man (e.g. ‘Hey there, Jimmy!’) Jings! Gosh! keek look ken
know
kirk
church
laddie
boy
laldy thrashing lang
long
lassie girl loch
lake
loup
leap
lum chimney (e.g. ‘lang may your lum reek’ = may you always be prosperous enough to have fuel) ma
my
mair more merrit
married
midden
rubbish heap
mind remember (e.g. ‘dae ye mind him?’) mither mon
mother
vocative term for a man (e.g. ‘Whit're ye daeing, mon?’)
Mon! My! mony many moose
mouse
mooth
mouth
-na, -nae
‘no’, or ‘not’ as a suffix to a verb (dinna = don't, wisnae = wasn't)
neep turnip ne'er never Ne'erday
New Year's Day
neuk corner no
not
noo
now (e.g. ‘Ah'm gaun oot the noo’)
o
of
Och! Well! -ocht -ought (e.g. bocht, thocht) ony
any
oor
our
oot(side)
out(side)
ower over, rather oxter armpit palaver
fuss
pairt part peely-wally pale piece slide of bread with jam, etc. puddin
pudding
puggle
tire out (e.g. ‘fair puggled’ = ‘rather worn out’
pun(d)
pound
ra
the
rammy
noisy fight
rid
red
sae
so
sair
sore (‘a sair fecht’ = ‘a sore fight’ means something problematic)
Sassenach
an Englishman (‘Saxon’)
scratcher
bed
scunner
nuisance
see consider (e.g. ‘see they computers’, prior to making some negative remark); pass (e.g. ‘sees us ower thae book’) -sel
-self (e.g. ‘hissel’ = ‘himself’)
sgian dubh a knife often worn decoratively with Highland dress (Gaelic for ‘black knife’) shoogle
shake
skelp smack slater woodlouse smirr fine rain (noun and verb) snaw snow Special
a commercial beer
spurtle
wooden spoon
stank drain stane stone stoat bounce (heavy rain is said to stoat off the ground) stoor dust stramash
commotion
stravaig
wander about
stushie
commotion
-t
-ed
tae
to
tak
take
Tartan
a commercial beer
tattie potato telt
told
Teuchter
Highlander (often pejorative)
thae, they
that, those (e.g. ‘see they computers’)
toun town tak
take
thirl
bind, pierce
thole endure thrawn
perverse
toon/toun
town
toty
tiny
(Edinburgh) trades first two weeks of July) trauchle twa
traditional summer holiday period in Edinburgh (the
trouble
two
verra very wabbit
pale and weak (as after illness or exertion)
wain child wally china? (a ‘wally dug’ is a china dog book-end) wan
one
wean child wee
small
Wee Free
Free Church of Scotland
wee heavy
strong beer (barley wine)
wha
who
wham
whom
whaur
where
Wheesht!
Quiet!
whit
what
wi'
with
wid, wud
would
wifie (old) woman
wis, wus wull
will
ye
you
yer
your
yin
one
was