10 Scottish Words All ‘Outlander’ Fans Should Know

Based on the popular book series by American author Diana Gabaldon, TV’s Outlander tells the story of a World War II nurse, played by Caitríona Balfe, who is mysteriously transported back in time to mid 18th century Scotland. There, she falls for a Highland Clan Mackenzie warrior, played by Sam Heughan, in the years leading up to the Jacobite Rising in the mid 1740s. 

The series, which ran for over 100 episodes from 2014 to 2026, picked up a raft of award nominations and critical praise. Its commitment to historical and cultural accuracy (albeit with a little historical license here and there) earned particular notice, with historians and Gaelic language experts brought in to advise the production.

As a result, the show brought to life an entire vocabulary of Scottish words, from both the Gaelic and Scots languages, and popularized them far outside Scotland’s borders.

SASSENACH 

Derived from a Gaelic word literally meaning “Saxon,” in reference to the early medieval settlers of England, a Sassenach is an Englishman (or, in a looser sense, a Lowland Scots person who lives along Scotland’s English border). A word originally “put in the mouths only of Highlanders,” according to the Scottish National Dictionary, this has long since fallen into “somewhat jocular use throughout Scotland.” And as any Scottish person will likely tell you (or any English person who has been on the receiving end of it, for that matter), it’s a word that today is particularly used in contexts where the cultural differences between England and Scotland are telling. 

BAIRN 

A general word for a young child or infant, bairn was a word originally brought to medieval England by the Angles, Saxons, and other early Germanic-speaking settlers. It survived in Old English for a time as bearn before largely falling out of use in southern England after the Norman Conquest. In Scotland and northern England, however, it has remained in use through to today. 

KEN

Nothing to do with the Scots name Kenneth, if you ken something then you know it, or understand it; in that sense, this is actually a distant etymological cousin of the verb can. 

BONNIE

Bonnie, or bonny, is an adjective in Scots and the northern dialects of English, and is typically used to describe anyone or anything that is attractive or pretty. In Scots in particular, though, bonnie is often used more widely than it is in English, and so can also be used of anything that is noticeably good, favorable, impressive, positive, or fair—so a particularly sizable object might be a “bonnie size,” or a warm, sunny day might be “bonnie” too. 

DINNA FASH

In simple terms, dinna fash—an expression you’ll still hear in Scotland today—essentially means “don’t worry about it,” or “don’t sweat it.” Dinna is just a local Scottish form of “don’t,” but fash is a little more complicated: descended from a French verb, fâcher, meaning to annoy, it can variously be used to mean to disturb, to vex, to anger, to inconvenience, to meddle with, or to bother yourself to do something. 

BRAW

Dating from the 1700s at least, braw is etymologically just a Scots version of the English word brave—but you’ll often hear it used more broadly in Scotland to describe not just someone displaying courageousness, but someone who is good-looking, strapping, finely dressed, impressive, or handsome. (It’s a word that can also be used ironically too, along the lines of “another braw mess you’ve gotten me into.”)

GOMEREL

Gomerel is a general Scots and northern English word for a fool, a dolt, or a simpleton. Although it’s been suggested that it might be related to the Scots verb goam, meaning to look about vacantly, unfortunately its origins are largely unclear and lost to the mists of etymological time. 

DIRK

A dirk is a kind of long, straight dagger. Originally used as a thrusting weapon by Highland fighters, it remains a part of traditional and ceremonial Scottish dress still today. 

PEELY-WALLY

Peely, or peelie, is a Scots word meaning pale, thin, or meagre looking; peely-wally, or peelie-wallie, is just an extension of that, used particularly of anyone who looks feeble or sickly.

MO CHRIDHE

One of a number of Scottish Gaelic expressions that found its way into Outlander, mo chridhe (essentially pronounced “moh-khree”) literally means “my heart,” and as such is used as a general term of endearment for a sweetheart or dearly loved person. Today, it’s sometimes also found in an anglicized form, mochree.

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