Scotland is a multilingual country and our colourful vocabularies affirm that - from Scottish Gaelic to the Scots language and their dialects, any formal English speaker is sure to think “what is going on here” at least once.
If that’s you then dinnae get yersel in a fankle (don’t worry) because we asked our Scotsman readers ‘what’s your favourite Scottish word’ and they gave some fantastic answers so you’ll ken just fine in future.
Tying in with ‘A Year of Conversation and the International Year of Indigenous Languages’ in 2019 the Scottish Book Trust organised a vote for ‘iconic Scots words’ as the dictionary differs that much to standard English.
That said, rest assured that Scots words like “ken” are not beyond your ken. Here are 40 of the nation’s favourite Scottish words (and sayings) as voted by our Scotsman readers - gie it a swatch (check it out!)
29. Bairn
When the Scottish refer to a “bairn” they are referring to a child, you can also use the word “wean” for this. Photo: Pavel Danilyuk via Canva Pro
30. Tumshie
A tumshie refers to a stupid or foolish person but often the word is utilised as a term of endearment if you refer to a loved one as a “wee tumshie”. Photo: Hiraman via Canva Pro
31. Guising
Derived from the word “disguising” this is the Scottish variant of the term “trick or treat” for Halloween. Photo: Charles Parker via Canva Pro
32. Totie
Above you’ve got totie tomatoes but they’re not all totie, as you can see there’s one big one - totie refers to something being small. Photo: pakornkrit via Canva Pro