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


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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Hide AdSome 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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