My own Ulster-Scots (Ullans)
vocabulary (last updated in 2006)
A
ach - but
an' - and
aul', auld - old
awa - away
ay - yes
B
bahbey - baby
bate - beaten (past particple of beat)
batter on - continue
baul', bauld - bold
blade - a quick-to-reply person usually a girl
blak maill - blackmail (Scotland, originally a deposit on
rented property)
blether - talk nonsense
bodie - body, person
bog - soft
boggin - dirty
boke - puke
'bout - about
brave - splendid
broc - rubbish (Derry)
brun, braun - brown
brytenin - brightening
C
cahsel - castle
caht - cat
cannae - can't
caul', cauld - cold
clabber - dirt, mud, shit
clart - a scruffy dirty person
cleg - horsefly
clip - smack
clod - throw
codswallop - rubbish
crack - craic
cu, caiu - cow
cub, lad, laddie - boy
cuddy, lass, lassie - girl (Fermanagh)
cudnae - couldn't
curner - corner
D
dander (danncr) - amble
dayligaun - twilight
dinnae - don't
dinney - don't
done - finished (I’ve done me chores)
douncher - cap (Dad)
dooer - door
dotin - senile
dour - boring, slow
dram - small quanity
duke - peep
duke-hole - peep-hole (say, in a hedge)
E
erchin - hedgehog
F
fahl - fall
ferm, fahrm - farm
flat - apartment (Scotland, 18th century)
flit - to move all your possessions (Scotland, 14th
century, from the past participle of fly)
G
gahm - ignorant man (Belfast)
geague - comic, comedian, bon viveur (Belfast)
git, get - ignorant man
glar - mud
glipe - a rough character (Belfast)
gob - mouth
gulpin - a rude person (Mon, you’re the quer gulpin)
gumption - commonsense (Tyrone)
gunk - shock, shocking
H
haagh - clear the throat ("Ther's haaghin an ther's
talking")
haet - bit (i.e. not a haet [Fermanagh])
haiu - how
hash - mess
hate - was hit
heed - head
hekill - heckle (Scotland, 15th century)
hither - here
hoke - forage, poke, search
houl - hold
howl - cry
hunkers - backs of the thighs
L
the Laird - the Lord (i.e., God)
lankey - long
lug - ear
M
maht - mat
mankey - rotten, rancid, smelly
marley - marble
meddah - meadow
milck - milk
mon - man
N
naiu - now
nay, naw, nah - no
neb - nose
not (a haet) - nothing
O
onte, unto - onto
oughtnae - oughtn't
outfall - fallout
oxtcr - armpit
P
pile - lot
pin - leg
pod - foot
poh-lis - police
Q
quer - [emphatic] it be a quer day
quick (n) - living tissue: the quick and the dead
R
rode - ridden (past participle of ride)
rud, rowed - road
S
scalded - burnt (Yis has me heart scalded)
sculduddery - skulduggery (from sculdudry Scotland 17th
century)
scunder - break
scundered - broken
sheufty - sliding motion
sheugh - ditch
shuk - shook
skit - skipped (past participle of skip)
skite (n.) - a cheeky person
skite (v.) - struck, throw, slip, slide
skitter - a most disagreeable person
skut -
dirt, very perjorative when used to describe a person
sleekit
- sly
slatin - telling off
slipe - originally a type of cart, a rough estimation of
large size
slogorne - slogan (from Gaelic: 'sluagh ghairm' Scotland,
14th century)
sod - ignorant man
sprauchle - sprawl
T
'tahl - at all, in the end
teemin - raining heavily
terra - terror [emphatic]
them uns - those there
these uns - these here
thither - there
thran - awkward, cross, grumpy
through-other - upset, confused
W
wahter - water
wane - cart(load) (Derry)
wean - child
weeman - woman
weemen - women
wheen - a few
whist! - be quiet!
whither - whether
wig (v) - to pull a lock of hair (Fermanagh)
wile - wild, terrible, very
wisen - shrivelled, small
wudnae - wouldn't
Y
yammer - small talk
ye - you (singular)
yin - one
yo - ewe
yon (thon) - that
yous uns - you (plural) there
yous - you (plural)
Some key features of Ulster-Scots apart from the actual
vocabulary
1.
Verbs
Sometimes regular verbs made out
of irregular verbs
To fly is an irregular verb: I fly, I flew, I had/have
flown, this becomes more regular: I fly, I flit, I had/have
flit
Or I ride, rode, had/have ridden, becomes I rode, rode,
had/have rode
2. Sounds
Words ending in -ow, extreme lengthening of the 'o'
Words containing 'a', vowel is lengthened
Words ending in -oat, split into two syllables: 'o' as in
'oh' and ‘at’
Words ending in –oad, split into two syllables:
‘o’ as in ‘oh’ and ‘ad’