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.”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.”
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.