LITMIR.BIZ

       A–Z of Scottish Words

      agley or aglee adverb, adjective squint, askew or wrong: The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley. (Burns)

      airt noun a direction or point of the compass: The centre attracts visitors from a’ the airts.

      ashet noun a large plate or shallow dish for cooking or serving food: I’d rather have an ashet pie than a Scotch pie. [French assiette plate]

      awfy or awfu adjective, adverb awful or very: They’ve made an awfy mess; She’s awfy clever, that lassie.

      baffies plural noun slippers: She’s no away doon the shops wi they auld baffies on!

      baggie or baggie minnie noun a minnow, especially a large one: When I was wee we used tae bring hame baggies in a jeely-jaur.

      bahookie or behouchie (pronounced ba-hoo-kee) a jocular word for a person’s backside: Is this carry-on no a pain in the bahookie?

      bairn noun 1 a baby or young child. This is used in most parts of the country, except primarily West Central Scotland, where wean tends to be used instead: The wife’s expecting a bairn; The bairns came home from the school. 2 a nickname for a person from Falkirk [sense 2 springs from Falkirk’s town motto: ‘Better meddle wi the deil than the bairns o’ Falkirk’]

      ballop (pronounced bal-op) noun spoken in Galloway the fly on a pair of trousers: I suppose we’d better tell him his ballop’s open.

      barkit (pronounced bark-it) adjective spoken in Northeast very dirty, especially encrusted with dried-on dirt: Dinna put yer barkit boots on that chair!

      barrie or barry adjective spoken in Edinburgh & Southeast good or attractive: Your hair looks really barrie like that. [Romany]

      bashit (pronounced bash-it) adjective mashed: bashit neeps

      bauchle (pronounced bawCH-l) or

      bachle (pronounced baCH-l) noun literally a shabby or worn-out shoe, but mostly used to mean an ungainly or shabby-looking person, especially a small one: He’s a right wee bauchle.

      beastie noun a small animal, particularly an insect, spider, or similar creepy-crawly: What’s that beastie on the curtain?

      ben noun a mountain, often part of the mountain’s name, such as Ben Nevis or Ben Lomond: You could see all the nearby bens from the top of the hill. | preposition, adverb in, within, or into the inner or main part of a house: Come ben the hoose; She was ben the kitchen making tea. [Gaelic]

      bidie-in (pronounced bide-ee-in) noun somebody who lives with another person as their husband or wife although they are not married: Katia Labeque, McLaughlin’s bidie-in and sometime musical partner

      This is a nicely informal way of describing such a relationship; much couthier than ‘live-in lover’ or ‘fellow householder’.

      bing noun a large hill-like mound of waste from a mine or quarry: Large oilshale bings disfigured the countryside.

      birk noun a birch tree: the birks o’ Aberfeldy

      birl verb to spin or revolve: Ma heid’s birlin wi aw this noise.

      black-affrontit (pronounced blak-a-frunt-it) or black-affronted adjective very embarrassed or offended: He was black-affrontit when she told him his ballop was open.

      blaeberry (pronounced blay-ber-i) noun an edible purplish-black berry, also known as a bilberry or whortleberry: They’re away picking blaeberries.

      blaes (pronounced blayz) noun crushed hardened clay or shale, reddish or bluish-grey in colour, which is used to form the top layer of a sports ground: a blaes pitch

      Blaes is rather less fun to play on than grass – and definitely not for those unwilling to suffer a skint knee!

      blaud (pronounced blahd) verb spoken in Northeast to spoil or damage: a park o’ blaudit neeps

      bleezin or bleezin fou adjective spoken in Northeast very drunk: He wis fair bleezin.

      bodach (pronounced boe-daCH) noun spoken in North & West an old man: Ask the bodach if he’s

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