Scots Language Centre

Word of the week

smeddum n. spirit, energy, drive, vigorous resourcefulness

on 30th Oct 2006

Smeddum (2001) is the apt title of recent collection of works by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, a writer whose brief but intense writing career was marked by virr and vigour. Still very much alive in non...

skelf n. a thin fragment, a flake; a splinter, a sharp fragment of wood, etc.

on 25th Oct 2006

Skelf (not to be confused with skelf, a shelf) has been recorded in Scots sources since the early seventeenth century and was probably borrowed from Dutch schelf, a flake or splinter of wood. Th...

thrawn adj. twisted, crooked, distorted; (of people) obstinate, intractable, etc.

on 12th Oct 2006

Thrawn is frequently used with reference to stubbornness and absolute conviction. A recent article in Scotland on Sunday described the Scottish Borders as having a "thrawn sense of self". Anothe...

wab n. (world wide) web

on 10th Oct 2006

Wab (and its variants) has had a variety of different applications over the centuries, relating to such diverse subjects as weaving, coalmining, spiders and the internet. From at least the fifte...

Word of the week

smeddum n. spirit, energy, drive, vigorous resourcefulness

skelf n. a thin fragment, a flake; a splinter, a sharp fragment of wood, etc.

thrawn adj. twisted, crooked, distorted; (of people) obstinate, intractable, etc.

wab n. (world wide) web

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