Scottish Human Anatomy: 21 Scots words for body parts, how many do you already know?
In the past, we have asked our Scotsman readers for their favourite Scottish words (and sayings) and in doing so revealed a wealth of rich Scottish vocabulary including Scots words with totally different meanings in English and (naturally) weather terms e.g., “dreich”.
From Scottish Gaelic to Scots Leid and its dialects such as Doric, Scotland has a rich linguistic heritage which endures to this day. For example, you can find Gaelic phrases in the hit TV show Outlander and Scots Leid expressions too.
Meanwhile, it is well known that there are many mispronounced Scottish place names because these locations still have motifs of our heritage languages. So, all of this to say that Scotland provides a rich landscape for languages and that extends to our descriptions of human anatomy.
If terms like “cranniewanny”, “geggie” or “queets” are lost on you then continue reading for twenty-one Scottish words for body parts.
1. Bahookie
The word “bahookie” refers to a person’s bottom. Informally, you can use it to refer to one’s buttocks, for example: “the bampot fell right on his bahookie” (the idiot fell right on his bum!) Photo: Eva Blanco on Canva Pro
2. Fizog
The term “fizog” refers to one’s face or the expression on their face (similar to “visage”). For example: “the wee yin had a glaikit look oan his fizog” (the little one had a glazed expression on his face.) Photo: alessandrobiascioli on Canva Pro
3. Geggie
“Geggie” is a word that is notoriously not used in polite conversation, it means a person’s mouth. Often it is used during a discourse like “shut your geggie” (shut your mouth!) Photo: Arindam Raha on Canva Pro
4. Heid
Based on the similarities to the standard English word, you could probably guess that this Scots word means “head”. Another word that can be used is “napper” because you take naps with it. Photo: joecicak on Canva Pro