Scotland Places To Visit - http://www.scotland-placestovisit.com/twv/
Scottish Words
http://www.scotland-placestovisit.com/twv//articles/14/1/Scottish-Words/Page1.html
By Vikara
Published on 03/31/2009
 


Over a hundred of the most common Scottish words used every day in Scotland.  Some words are only heard in certain regions though.  "Ken" (know), for instance, isn't used in Glasgow, but is used in Kilmarnock which is just twenty-five miles away.   

If you're looking for a particular word or meaning, you can use the search box to save you time trawling through the words.  Click for Scottish words


Adam's wine - Water.

Bealin' - Awful, rotten.  Can be used for a variety of situations, such as "I went to see him in concert and he was bealin'.

Blootered - Drunk, the worse for drink.  "He was fair blootered when he came hame in the wee hours of the mornin'."  (Hame - home)  And by very popular request, more words for drunk - stoatin', steamin', puggled, wasted, oot 'o it, sloshed, blitzed, birlin', guttered, gubbed, mad wi' it, minced, oot yer tree, smashed, sozzled, tanked, trollied, wrecked, poleaxed, and awa' wi' the fairies (also means to be a sandwich short of a picnic, mad).  

Bool-backed - Round-shouldered. Most likely originated from the game of lawn bowls. A bool is the small, round ball used in lawn bowls, a common game in Scotland. “They’ve gone to play some bools.”

Brae - Hill.

Blubber-totum - A name for any drink made too thin or weak.

Bahookie - Bottom. Breeker is used to mean the same.

Barkit - Mud-encrusted.

Birl - To spin around, whirl. May be used on the dance floor. “Do you fancy a birl aroon’ the floor?”

Bothan
- An unlicensed drinking house.

Champit - Mashed. “I’d like my tatties (potatoes) champit please.”

Chiel - A young man

Chitterin’ - Trembling with cold. “I was chitterin’ outside and had to come back in.”

Clatty -  Dirty, filthy.  “We went round to the park but it was clatty.” Someone who isn’t keen on housework, with a house to show for it, is commonly called “clatty”.

Coo - A cow.  "The farmer’s taking the coos for milking.”  Scottish cows are most usually thought of as coos. 

Coup - Rubbish dump or a messy house. Spoken “cowp”.  “I’m just taking the rubbish up to the coup.”  Or “I widnae go near her house, it’s a coup.”

Cuddy - A horse. 

Cuddy-punt -  A cuddy-punt is a piggy-back.

Cutty-sark - A cutty sark is a short (cutty) shirt (sark). It is seen in the Robert Burns poem, Tam O' Shanter.  "Tam tint his reason a the gither, And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"

Din - Noise of any kind, but mostly the annoying kind.  “Be quiet in there, I cannae hear myself think for the din.”

Drookit - Soaking wet, sodden. Mostly used on the odd occasions when it rains in Scotland.   

Droothy - Thirsty, desperate for drink.  Can be used when simply thirsty on a warm day, or to mean one is in the mood for an alcoholic beverage.

Dookers - Swimsuit, swimming trunks. "Have a dook" means to dip into water. "He dooked in for a swim."  Dooking for apples is a Halloween activity in Scotland - it entails placing apples into a large tub of water, and then trying to lift them out by just using the mouth.  You hold your arms behind your back to avoid the temptation to cheat when your opponents aren't looking.

Dunted - Hit.  Can be used when you accidentally bump into someone in the street or pub.  "Sorry, I dunted you.  I wasn't looking where I was going." 

Dreich - Dull.  Most commonly used to describe dull or rainy weather. Can also be used to describe a situation of little hope.  "It’s looking gie (very) dreich for him.

Deef - Deaf.

Flech - To scratch, often vigorously.  Flech also means to feather an arrow. It is the derivative of the word fletcher, an arrow-maker.

Fouter -  To dither around.  Spoken as footer.

Foosty - Mouldy, mostly used to describe food that has gone off.

Geggie - Mouth.  May be used politely or rudely.  “You’re talking nonsense, so just shut your geggie.”

Keeker - A black eye.  “To keek”, means to peep.  “Go and keek round the corner and see if he’s coming.”

Neb - Nose. 

Nicky-tams - String tied around the leg below the knee to keep trouser leg bottoms out of the mud.

Palin stab - Fence post.  “He slipped and dunted his neb on the palin stab.” ”He slipped and hit his nose on the fence post.”

Piece - A sandwich.  “I want a piece in jeely.” Jeely is jam or jelly. 

Ploo - A plough.

Puddock - A frog. May be used to describe someone in an embarrassing situation. "He looked like a right puddock."  

Puffed oot - Out of breath.  “I was puffed oot running after him.”   Usually used when a young child (bairn or wean, spoken “wane”) has decided adult company is boring, and runs off for some independent adventure.

Puggled -
Tired or exhausted.  “I felt fair puggled after I ran the marathon.”



Poke - A paper bag.  “Yes, please put the sweeties in a poke.”

Haddie -
A haddock.  One of Scotland’s favourite meals after a night out is a “haddie supper” from the chippie (the fish and chip shop owner).

Heid -
Head.  May be lengthened and used to describe a footballer’s heading of the ball.  “He hit a great heidie and the ba’ (ball) went into the back o’ the net.”

Galluses -
Braces used to hold up trousers. 

Sook - Suck.

Jag -
An injection.  “The nurse gave me a tetanus jag at the hospital.”

Weel weeded heid - Bald.

Ugsome -
Horrible.  May be derived from ugly.

Kent -
Known.  A common expression.  “Aye, I’ve kent him all my life.”  Or “Do you no’ (not) ken (know) who I’m talking about?”

Plook -
Pimple or spot.  Small or big, it’s still called a plook.

Pokey hat -
An ice-cream cone.

Wirrok -
Corn, bunion. A gnarled knot in wood.

Skitie -
Slippery.  “It’s gie skitie oot there.”  Or on particularly icy days, “I skited aff my feet and landed on my  bahookie.”

Trimmlin’ Tam -
A table jelly. Trimmlin’ means trembling. 

Lug -
Ear.  A luggie is a wooden bowl with handles on the side.

Gallows -
An apparatus used to suspend a pot over an open fire.  

Hale jing-bang -
Everything.  “I only wanted to buy some of it but I ended up with the hale jing-bang.”

Spurtle -
A short stick for stirring porridge.

Wheech - 
To move quickly.   “I couldnae catch him because he wheeched by me.”

Mismak -
To cook food badly.

Nacket - 
A packed lunch.

Skliff -
A segment of an orange.

Plout -
To immerse in boiling water.

Rab Ha -
A voracious eater.  Named after the real man, Rab Ha.

Skoosh - Lemonade, or a carbonated drink.

Wallies -
Dentures.  “He’s away to the dentist to pick up his wallies.”




Flit - To move from one home to another home.  A moonlight flit occasionally happened in the past when families would flit during the night - usually to escape rent arrears.

Chap -
Knock.  “I heard a chap at the door and went to see who it was.”

Bide -
Stay.  “Aye, I used to bide there but I moved.”  

Crabbit -
Bad-tempered.  “He’s a crabbit old so and so.”

Muckle -
A lot, a great number, sometimes referring to money. From the phrase, “Many a mickle makes a muckle.”   Mickle means the same as muckle.

Toattie -
Tiny.  “It was so toattie, I could hardly see it.”

Gallus -
Cheeky.  “She’s a gallus lass through and through.”  

Peely wally -
Pale.

Canty -
Cheerful, happy.

Glaikit -
Stupid.

Spung -
A purse or money pouch.

Kailyard -
A vegetable patch.

Haver -
To talk nonsense.  “He does an awful lot of havering.”  

Humph -
To carry or move often heavy objects around. “Will ye come along and help me humph my furniture into the van?”

Blowder -
A sudden gust of wind.  “I was nearly blown away by a blowder.”

Clype -
To tell on someone, a liar.

Clach -
Stone.

Cuiter -
Mend, fix.

Snagger -
To snore harshly.

Smirr -
A light misting of rain.  A dreep is a steady fall of light rain.  A thunder-plump is a sudden thunder shower. 

Scunner - A boring person, or to bore someone. "She scunnered me something rotten."

Spiug - A sparrow.  A small seed-eating bird.

Stravaig - To wander about the countryside idly looking for mischief. 

Tattie-bogle - A scarecrow used to keep crows and other birds away from field crops.

Yowe - A female sheep, a ewe.  Sheep are sometimes seen on Scottish roads.  They are very stubborn, and blessed with a strong reluctance to move out of the way of oncoming vehicles and cyclists.  Be careful out there.