Scots nature word of the week
These are drawn from Amanda Thomson’s book A Scots Dictionary of Nature (2018, Saraband: Glasgow). Most of the words are still in current use since they are included in the Essential Scots-English Dictionary Online. Sometimes, however, I have identified words which appear no longer to be in current use but deserve to be revived because they are so evocative, poetic or amusing. Some words are specific to one or more of the different dialects of Scots while others are General Scots words. I have included an indication of usual pronunciation when this is necessary. The most recent word of the week is shown first.
Monday 9 November 2026: bawkie or bawkie-bird or backie (General Scots) – a bat. Bawkie is a diminutive form of the Older Scots word bak which in turn is derived from a Norse word for a bat. Bawkie can also mean the winged seed of the sycamore tree, presumably because the movements of the seed in the air mimic those of bats in flight
Monday 2 November 2026: pyot (General Scots) – a magpie. The magpie’s noisy chattering call, black and white plumage with a bluish-green sheen, and long tail make it one of the most distinctive birds. The Scots word pyot is a diminutive form of pie which probably derives from French. Other Scots words for magpie are maggie and deil’s (devil’s) bird, the latter a reminder of its reputation in folklore
Monday 26 October 2026: inch or insh (General Scots) – low lying land near a river. An inch originally meant a small island in a river but came to also mean land beside the river, often used for grazing cattle. Inch comes from the Gaelic innis which has the same dual meaning of small island and low lying land beside the river. The best known examples are the North and South Inch in Perth
Monday 19 October 2026: kelpie or water kelpie (General Scots) – a water spirit taking the form of a horse. Folklore legends of shape-shifting water spirits are common throughout Europe. In Scotland, kelpie probably derives from the Gaelic cailpeach, meaning a colt or young horse. The word has become much better known since the erection in 2013 of The Kelpies, the two beautiful 30-metre high steel sculptures near Falkirk
Monday 12 October 2026: herle or erle (East Central Scots) – a heron. Herons are a familiar sight throughout Scotland but are more common in lowland areas which may explain the survival of the East Central Scots word herle. Strangely, given the size and strong build of herons, herle has also been used as a term for an undernourished child and a small animal although neither of these meanings is now in current use
Monday 5 October 2026: rodden (Northern Scots) - the rowan tree or rowan berry. The rowan tree with its bright red berries provides a splash of colour at this time of year and food for many different birds. The fieldfare is sometimes called the rodden-bird because of its particular fondness for rowan berries. If something is as soor as roddens, it is very sour or bitter
Monday 28 September 2026: atween-lichts (General Scots) - twilight or the distance between houses. Like gloaming last week, atween-lichts is a term for twilight. While atween-lichts in the sense of the distance between houses is no longer in current use, the constituent words meaning between and lights are. However, this expression deserves to be revived since it is so evocative of rural Scotland where the few houses can be identified by their lights as night falls
Monday 21 September 2026: gloaming or gloamin (General Scots) – twilight. An appropriate choice on the eve of the autumn equinox as the days shorten, gloaming derives from Old English. While it survives in Scots, it is no longer used in Standard British English. Its best known use is in the love song Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ by the Scottish music hall star Harry Lauder
Monday 14 September 2026: law (General Scots) - a rounded hill, specifically one which is isolated from other hills and thus stands out in the landscape. Good examples are North Berwick Law on the edge of the town in East Lothian and Dundee Law in the centre of the city although, with all the surrounding building, the latter is less obvious
Monday 7 September 2026: hairst (General Scots) - harvest (both noun and verb). The origin of hairst is the Old English word hærfest which also meant autumn. Hairst is used in this sense too, displaying a clear link with other Germanic languages. Herbst and herfst are the words for autumn in German and Dutch respectively
Monday 31 August 2026: merl or merle (General Scots) – a blackbird. The word derives from Old French merle – still the French term for a blackbird – and ultimately from Latin merulus. Merl is one of the many French words which appears to have entered Scots but not English
Monday 24 August 2026: aik (General Scots) - the oak tree or oak wood. Once more widespread, oak trees are still a key species in Scotland's temperate rainforest. The word aik derives from Old English. It is reflected in a number of common Scottish family names such as Aitken
Monday 17 August 2026: shieling (General Scots) - a summer grazing area for cattle in the hills; also the hut occupied by farmers and their families during the summer. The ruins of shieling dwellings can be seen across Scotland, reminders of a now disappeared traditional way of life. The word is also reflected in such place names as Pollockshields (in Glasgow) and Galashiels
Monday 10 August 2026: tammie norie or norie (Shetland Scots) or tammie cheekie (North East Scots) - the puffin. With their distinctive orange beaks, puffin are much loved summer visitors to Scotland. They leave Scotland about this time of year after the breeding season. Common in the north east and Shetland, puffins are also found elsewhere, for example the Isle of May and the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth
Monday 3 August 2026: cleg – horsefly or gadfly (General Scots). By all accounts, this blood feeding insect has been particularly active in many parts of Scotland during this long hot summer. The word cleg derives from Norse. Gled is also used in Border Scots
Monday 27 July 2026: airt – the direction of the wind and also a point of the compass (General Scots). The expression a’ the airts means from all directions, as in the song by Robert Burns Of a’ the Airts the Wind Can Blaw. Airt derives from the Gaelic word àird, another reminder of Scotland’s rich linguistic history
Monday 20 July 2026: bonxie – a great skua (Orkney and Shetland Scots). This large seabird is a pirate, taking fish from other birds, and is also notorious for divebombing anybody who gets too close to its nest. The name bonxie derives from Norn, a Norse language which was spoken in Orkney and Shetland where the bird is common
Monday 13 July 2026: puddock – a frog or sometimes toad (General Scots). From this, we get puddock-stool – also puddock-stuil or puddock steel (North East Scots) – a toadstool or mushroom. Puddock can also mean an ugly person, perhaps in an echo of the fairy tale of the princess and the frog
Monday 6 July 2026: drouth (drooth) or drucht - a drought or period of drought (General Scots), an appropriate word in this long hot summer. Drouth can also be used to describe good weather for drying washing - Monday was traditional washing day in Scotland - and to mean a thirst when applied to people
Monday 29 June 2026: birk – the birch tree (General Scots but also used in northern England). Birch trees, with their beautiful, papery bark, are common throughout much of Scotland. From birk we get birks – a birch wood and siller birk – the silver birch tree. The best known use of birk is probably Robert Burns’ love poem The Birks of Aberfeldy