Scottish Slang
Scottish slang decoded — wee, scunnered, bairn and Scots patter with real meanings, examples, and origins. Properly sourced.
433 words
Cheers! Good health! (a toast)
A cheeky or troublesome woman/girl (often affectionate)
Good morning.
Dundonian word for a drain or drain cover.
'Right' in an exaggerated posh Dublin accent
Drunk; 'the gargle' is drink
Grumpy, bad-tempered, irritable
Bitingly cold and sharp (of wind/weather)
Awfully; very
No bother — it's all good.
A shared tenement passage or entryway
Please don't do that — a firm/comic request to stop
A large serving plate or oval dish
A tiny, cute thing, usually a small child.
A blockhead; a stupid person
A traditional bonnet worn by Cornish women.
No; not
That woman (whose name is unknown or unsaid)
Geordie and Scottish for cigarettes — plural by default.
An attractive young woman (Munster/Cork)
A turnip (swede); as in 'neeps and tatties'
To spin, whirl or twirl round
Soft, sticky mud or ooze
Trainers, plimsolls, or any soft canvas shoes.
Old-fashioned or dowdy.
A troublemaker, fool or obnoxious person
A placeholder word for something whose name you forget.
Dundonian word for a roundabout.
The grocery shopping / errands
Very drunk
Exclamation of disbelief or astonishment
Small, little (Orkney and Shetland)
Scottish for going at something full-throttle, with everything you've got.
Down in the dumps. Glum-faced.
Grey, damp, miserable — the default Scottish weather forecast.
A small amount; a few
The perfect person or thing for the job
An English person (or, historically, a Lowlander)
Opposite to; facing; against
Notebooks; 'get yer jotters' means to be sacked