Edinburgh slang: 25 common slang words you will hear in Edinburgh, including ‘radge’, 'shan’ and ‘mingin’

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Compiled below is a list of slang words and phrases you might hear in Edinburgh

Ask anyone who has spent much time in Edinburgh and they will tell you – the natives have a unique way with words.

Take a wander around some of the city’s posher postcodes – such as Morningside or Stockbridge – and you’ll find the well-heeled natives pride themselves on their flawless diction and restrained vocabulary.

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But while the more refined areas of Auld Reekie channel the spirit of the late and legendary Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie, it’s around the likes of Gorgie, Gilmerton, Niddrie and Sighthill where the language is… well, let’s just say more colourful.

We've put together a list of 25 common slang words you will hear in Edinburgh, including ‘radge’, 'shan’ and ‘mingin’. Photo: PixabayWe've put together a list of 25 common slang words you will hear in Edinburgh, including ‘radge’, 'shan’ and ‘mingin’. Photo: Pixabay
We've put together a list of 25 common slang words you will hear in Edinburgh, including ‘radge’, 'shan’ and ‘mingin’. Photo: Pixabay

Leith, especially, is a hotbed for hilarious words and phrases, a fair few of them brought into the mainstream in Trainspotting, the cult novel by Muirhouse-raised writer Irvine Welsh.

Many Edinburgh words have their origins in the Roma language, which was traditionally spoken by travelling people in southern Scotland.

Some of the words you’ll see in our glossary and used in other parts of the country, too, but a fair few of them are unique to Auld Reekie.

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Some are a little choice for a family publication – to say the least – but we’ve collected a few here:

An Edinburgh glossary

Bampot - mad; idiot. Is often shortened to just ‘bam’.

Barry - fantastic or great

Bog - toilet

Bolt – go away

Bunker - worktop, kitchen counter

Cheesin: happy

Chore: To steal something

Chum - join on a journey (Chumming a friend doon the road)

Deek - look at

Dinnae - don’t

Embra - Edinburgh

Hud-oan - wait, as in wait for me

Haud yer weesht - be quiet

Ken - Know. ('I ken what you mean')

Foostie - stale

Gadgie: usually used to describe a man or boy who engages in loutish behaviour.

Nash: Hurry up

Mingin’: something disgusting, repulsive, stinking (that pizza was mingin)

Minger: An ugly or unattractive person

Radge - crazy or uncontrollable (A person can either be a radge, ‘go radge’, or do something radge)

Reekin’ - drunk

Steamin’ - see above

'Steamboats' – see above

Scoobied - clueless (Scooby Doo is rhyming slang for clue)

Shan - a shame, or disappointing (A bad day at work could be ‘well shan’). Can also mean unkind (‘that was shan saying that to him’

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