List of English words of Scottish Gaelic origin
# 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 pronounced, 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.
