Where the pronunciation of a word is unusual or of interest, guidance has been provided for the reader. The system used is self-explanatory, as far as possible, but the pronunciation guide below may be used in case of doubt.
Single vowels indicate a short sound. Longer vowels are indicated using the following letter-combinations:
Single consonants have their normal value, with other sounds being indicated by the following letter-combinations:
| CH | a guttural sound, as in loch |
| ch | as in chew |
| dh | a soft sound, as in they |
| sh | as in show |
| th | as in thing |
| wh | an aspirated sound, like ‘hw’ |
Readers should note that the letter ‘r’ is sounded when it follows a vowel in words such as ‘for’, and so the words ‘sore’ and ‘saw’ are pronounced differently in Scots, whereas an English speaker would make them sound the same.
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