List of English words of Scottish Gaelic origin

This is a list of English words borrowed from Scottish Gaelic. Some of these are common in Scottish English and Scots but less so in other varieties of English.

Words of Scottish Gaelic origin



 * Bard: The word's earliest appearance in English is in 15th century Scotland with the meaning "vagabond minstrel". The modern literary meaning, which began in the 17th century, is heavily influenced by the presence of the word in ancient Greek (bardos) and ancient Latin (bardus) writings (e.g. used by the poet Lucan, 1st century AD), which in turn took the word from the Gaulish language.
 * Ben: From beinn, mountain.
 * Bodach : Old man.
 * Bog: From bog, soft (related to boglach swamp), from Old Irish bocc. 14th century.
 * Bothan : A hut, often an illegal drinking den. (cf Bothy)
 * Caber toss: An athletic event, from the Gaelic word "cabar" which refers to a wooden pole.
 * Cailleach : An old woman, a hag, or a particular ancient goddess.
 * Cairn: From càrn. The word's meaning is much broader in Gaelic, and is also used for certain types of rocky mountains.
 * Caman: a shinty stick.
 * Capercaillie: From capall-coille, meaning "horse of the woods"
 * Cèilidh : A 'social gathering' or, more recently, a formal evening of traditional Scottish Social Dancing.
 * Canntaireachd: oral notation for pipe music.
 * Clan: From the compound form clann, from clann, children or family. Old Irish cland.
 * Claymore: A large broadsword, from claidheamh mór, great sword.
 * Coire: literally a "kettle", meaning a corrie, from the same root.
 * Crag: From creag, a cliff.
 * Deoch an dorus (various spellings) : meaning a "drink at the door". Translated as "one for the road", i.e. "one more drink before you leave".
 * Fear an taighe: an MC (master of ceremonies), Gaelic lit. "the man of the house"
 * Eàrlaid: the right sometimes sold by an outgoing to an incoming tenant to enter into possession of the arable land early in Spring.
 * Galore: From gu leor, enough.
 * Gillie: a type of servant, now usually somebody in charge of fishing and rivers, and also ghillie suit used as a form of camouflage, from gille, boy or servant.
 * Glen: From gleann, a valley.
 * Gob: From gob, beak or bill.
 * Kyle or Kyles : Straits from Gaelic Caol & Caolais.
 * Loch: From loch.
 * Lochaber axe : From Loch Abar, Lochaber + axe.
 * Mackintosh: After Charles Macintosh who invented it. From Mac an Tòisich, son of the chieftain.
 * Mod: A Gaelic festival, from mòd, assembly, court.
 * Pet: From peata, tame animal.
 * Pibroch: From pìobaireachd, piping.
 * Pillion: From pillean, pack-saddle, cushion.
 * Plaid: From plaide, blanket. Alternatively a Lowland Scots loanword , from the past participle of ply, to fold, giving plied then plaid after the Scots pronunciation.
 * Ptarmigan: From tàrmachan . 16th Century.
 * Shindig: From sìnteag to skip, or jump around
 * Slogan: From sluagh-ghairm, battle-cry
 * Sporran: Via sporan from Old Irish sboran and ultimately Latin bursa, purse.
 * Spunk: From spong, tinder and also sponge. From Early Irish sponge, from Latin spongia, from Greek σπογγιά, a sponge.
 * Strontium: from Sròn an t-Sìthein meaning "the point at the fairy hill", name of a village, near which the element was discovered.
 * Tack & Tacksman (a lessee) : From Scots tak (take) cf. Old Norse taka.
 * Trousers: from triubhas, via "trews".
 * Whisky: Short form of whiskybae, from uisge-beatha, water of life.

Words of Scottish or Irish Gaelic origin
The following words are of Goidelic origin but it cannot be ascertained whether the source language was Old Irish or one of the modern Goidelic languages.
 * Brogue: An accent, Irish, or Scottish Gaelic bròg, shoe (of a particular kind worn by Irish and Gaelic peasants), Old Irish bróc, from Norse brókr
 * Hubbub: Irish, or Scottish Gaelic ubub, an exclamation of disapproval.
 * Shanty : Irish or Scottish Gaelic sean taigh, an old house
 * Smidgen : Irish or Scottish Gaelic smidean, a very small bit (connected to Irish smidirín, smithereen), from smid, syllable or a small bit.
 * Strath: Irish, or Scottish Gaelic srath, a wide valley.

Gaelic words mostly used in Lowland Scots


Because of the wide overlap of Scottish English and Lowland Scots, it can be difficult to ascertain if a word should be considered Lowland Scots or Scottish English. These words tend to be more closely associated with Lowland Scots but can occur in Scottish English too.


 * Airt: Point of the compass, from àird, a point.
 * Bothy: A hut, from bothan, a hut, cf. Norse būð, Eng. booth.
 * Caird: A tinker, from ceaird, the plural of ceàrd, tinkers.
 * Caber: From cabar, pole.
 * Cailleach: From cailleach, old woman.
 * Caman: From caman, shinty stick. Also in use in Scotland the derived camanachd, shinty.
 * Cateran: From ceatharn, fighting troop.
 * Ceilidh: From céilidh, a social gathering.
 * Clachan: From clachan, a small settlement.
 * Clarsach: A harp, from clàrsach, a harp.
 * Corrie: From coire, kettle.
 * Doch-an-doris: Stirrup cup, from deoch an dorais, drink of the door.
 * Fillibeg: A kilt, from féileadh beag, small kilt.
 * Ingle: From aingeal, a now obsolete word for fire.
 * Kyle: From caol, narrow.
 * Lochan: From lochan, a small loch.
 * Machair: From machair, the fertile land behind dunes.
 * Quaich: From cuach, a cup.
 * Skean: From sgian, a knife.
 * Slughorn : Also from sluagh-ghairm, but erroneously believed by Thomas Chatterton and Robert Browning to refer (apparently) to some kind of trumpet.


 * Inch (in the sense of an island):, from Scottish Gaelic innis.
 * Och: Irish and Scottish Gaelic och, exclamation of regret. Cf. English agh, Dutch and German ach.
 * Oe: Grandchild, Irish and Scottish Gaelic ogha, grandchild.
 * Samhain : Irish and Scottish Gaelic Samhain, November and related to Oidhche Shamhna, Halloween.
 * Shennachie: Irish and Scottish Gaelic seanchaidh, storyteller.
 * Sassenach: Irish and Scottish Gaelic Sasannach, An Englishman, a Saxon.


 * Abthen (or Abthan): jurisdiction and territory of pre-Benedictine Scottish monastery, from †abdhaine, abbacy.
 * Airie: shieling, from àiridh, shieling.
 * Aiten: juniper, from aiteann, juniper.
 * Bourach: A mess, from bùrach, a mess.
 * Car, ker: Left-handed, from cearr, wrong, left.
 * Crine: To shrink, from crìon, to shrink.
 * Crottle: A type of lichen used as a dye, from crotal, lichen.
 * Golack: An insect, from gobhlag, an earwig.
 * Keelie: A tough urban male, from gille, a lad, a young man.
 * Ketach: The left hand, from ciotach, left-handed.
 * Sonse: From sonas, happiness, good fortune. Also the related sonsy.
 * Spleuchan: A pouch, from spliùchan, a pouch, purse.
 * Toshach: Head of a clan, from toiseach, beginning, front.

Place-name terminology


There are numerous additional place-name elements in Scotland which are derived from Gaelic, but the majority of these have not entered the English or Scots language as productive nouns and often remain opaque to the average Scot. A few examples of such elements are:


 * a(u)ch- from Gaelic achadh, a field; hence Auchentoshan distillery, Auchinleck
 * ard- from Gaelic àird, a height or promontory; hence Ardnamurchan, etc.
 * bal- from Gaelic baile, a town; hence Balgowan, Balgay etc.
 * cam- from Gaelic camas, a bend or meander; hence Cambuslang, Cambusnethan
 * dal- from Gaelic dail, a meadow (not to be confused with "dale", from the Norse dalr meaning a valley); hence Dalry
 * drum- from Gaelic druim, a ridge; hence Drumchapel, Drumnadrochit etc.
 * dun- from Gaelic dun, a fort; hence Dundee, Dumbarton, Dunedin
 * inver- from Gaelic inbhir, a river mouth or confluence; hence Inverclyde, Inverleith
 * kil- from Gaelic cill, a churchyard; hence Kilmarnock, Kilbride etc.
 * kin- from Gaelic ceann, a head; hence Kinlochleven, Kinloss etc.