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Place names are made up of components which are referred to as elements. These elements are simply the words people used to describe a place or their response to their environment. A more complete background to Scots in place names, pronunciation and spelling can be found accompanying Introduction to Scots origins of place names in Britain.
This is a glossary of the elements from Scots most frequently found in the place names of Britain. It does not claim to be a comprehensive list of Scots elements found in Scottish place names, but it can claim to be the most comprehensive to date. Some elements which are the same as English have not been included. The meaning given is that which occurs in place names. Examples (with grid references) are given for each element.
Abbreviations
adj = adjective
n = noun
| Element | Meaning | Examples |
| aller n | alder | Aller Dean NT9847, Allershaw Burn NS9611 |
| auld adj | old | Auld Byres NS4219, Auld Mill NO4862 |
| balk n | alternative form of baulk | Howbalk NU0513 |
| baud n | thicket, thickly growing gorse | Bauds of Cullen NJ4766, Birkenbaud NO7296 |
| baulk n | unploughed rig in a cultivated field often used as a boundary | Baulk Hill NO0709, Baulk of Struie NO0709 |
| bell n | top of a hill, highest part of a slope; bell-shaped | Bell Craig NS5583, Bell Hill NY5397 |
| belt n | narrow plantation | Belt Hill NX6679, Belt of Muirtack NJ9938 |
| bent n | open ground or sandy hillocks covered with coarse, rush-like grass | Bent NO6972, Bent Bridge NS4359 |
| bicker n | fight, quarrel | Bicker Bridge NJ5959, Bicker Burn NJ6058 |
| bield n | place giving refuge or shelter | Bieldside NJ8802, Craigy Bield NT1756 |
| biggin n | building | Langbigging HY7644, Midbigging HY5103 |
| bink n | ledge in a cliff, shelf | Binks Hill NT4103, Black Binks NO2565 |
| birk n | birch-tree | Braes of Birkenhills NJ7445, The Birks NJ7261 |
| bog n | morass, bog | Bruntshielbog NY4082, Dean Mill Bog NT7571 |
| bonnet n | soft flat hat | The Bonnets NN8751, Blue Bonnet Hill NH5038 |
| bonnie adj | see bonny | Bonnie Doune NK0364, Bonnie View NT9550 |
| bonny adj | beautiful, pretty, handsome, attractive | Bonny Braes NX0669, Bonnyside NJ7915 |
| boo n | manor house, village (used in Northern Isles and parts of Caithness) | Boo Breck HY2716 |
| bought n | sheepfold; curve, bend | High Boughthill NY7886, The Bought HY5608 |
| bow n | cattle | Bowfield NS3958, Bowhouse NO2610 |
| Bracken n | fern | Bracken Gill NY2994, Brackenhill NN9114 |
| brae n | slope of a hill; uplands (in plural form) | Brackeny Brae ND2349, Braes of Coul NO2857 |
| braid adj | broad | Braid Bog NJ4218, Braidhaugh NT5910, Braid Cairn NO4287 |
| brewster n | brewer | Brewster’s Burn NS8208, Brewsterwells NO4809 |
| brig n | bridge | Brig o’Turk NN5306, Blackburn Brig NJ8744 |
| broch n | circular prehistoric tower | Broch of Borwick HY2216, Oxtro Broch HY2526 |
| brock n | badger | Brock Burn NS5259, Brockholes NJ6307 |
| broo n | brow of a hill, overhanging bank of a hill | Broo Gill HU2678 |
| brow n | see broo | Throw Brow NT1012, Wedder Brows NT2209 |
| brunt adj | burnt | Brunt Rig NS7208, Bruntland HU5142 |
| bu n | bull | Bu Hill HY2204 |
| bucht n | see bought | Buchtrig NT7714, Bucht Slack NT0427, Bucht Burn NS5543, Bucht Sike NT7819 |
| bught n | see bought | Sheep Bught Rock NX7243, New Bught Hill NX1471, Todsbughts NS8372 |
| burgh n | Scots and Scottish English spelling of borough, town (originally with a charter) | Jedburgh NT6520, Edinburgh NT2876 |
| burn n | stream | Nether Burn NS9308, Newbigging Burn NJ6108 |
| burrow n | form of burgh | Burrowgate HY6123, Burrowley NJ9834 |
| butt n | ground disjoined from adjacent lands, strip of ploughed land, irregularly shaped ridge | Butt Hill NS7714, Longmeadow Butts NT5435 |
| cairn n | pyramid or pile of loose stones | Macbeth’s Cairn NJ5705, White Cairn NJ5931 |
| cald adj | see cauld | Cald Burn NO2977, Cald Well NY5382 |
| carlin n | old woman, old man | Carlin Burn NS5242, High Carlingcraig NS5639 |
| carse n | low land along river bank, flood plain | Carse Loch NX9184, Carse of Bayfield NH8073 |
| caul n | weir, dam | Old Caul Burn NY2371 |
| cauld n | see caul | Nisbetmill Cauld NT6524 |
| cauld adj | cold | Cauldwells NJ8056, Cauld Cleuch NT4601 |
| causey n | causeway | Causeyhead NS4346, Causeyport NO9198 |
| chingle n | gravel, shingle | Chinglebraes HY4208 |
| clash n | large hollow or cavity on hillside | Clash Burn NO7892, Clash of Wirren NO4975 |
| claver n | clover | Claver Hill NY7479, Claver Sike NY7379 |
| cleuch n | see cleugh | Corbie Cleuch NS8503, Chapel Cleuch NS8112 |
| cleugh n | gorge, ravine, cliff, crag | Cleugh of Tongue NX5253, Baron’s Cleugh NT1460 |
| clift n | cliff, cleft, cave | Clifton HY5042 |
| clint n | cliff, crag, precipice | Clint Burn NY7279, Clintlaw NO2853 |
| close n | enclosed land, farmyard, narrow alley | Green Close NY2354, Howclose NX8775 |
| cloy n | see cleugh | Cloy Rig NX3281, Cloybank NS7779 |
| coble n | ferry boat | Coble Haugh NO0517, Coble House Point NO4619 |
| comb n | bosom of a hill, hollow in a mountain side | East Comb NO7047, Lishaw Combs NY5984 |
| corbie n | raven, crow | Corbie Craigs NS4509 |
| corby n | see corbie | Corby Linn NY5587 |
| corrie n | hollow on the side of a mountain or between two mountains | Corrie of Bellaty NO2460 |
| corse n | cross, market place, crossing place | Corse Burn NJ5507, Corse Sike NY3475, Corston HU3612 |
| cot n | small house, cottage | Sheepcot Hill NY0584, Washingcot Rocks NJ0852 |
| cote, cott n | see cot | East Cote Farm NY1255, Woodside Cott NH8307 |
| cotton n | small collection of farm-cottages | Cotton of Carnegie NO5241, Carriston Cotton NO3204 |
| cottown n | see cotton | North Cottown NJ7715, Upper Cottown NJ7615 |
| cove n | cave, cavern | Cove Harbour NT7871 |
| cowper n | horse dealer | Cowper’s Craig NJ8266 |
| craig n | rocky place | Swallow Craig NS7310, White Craig NO2175 |
| cran n | crane, heron | Cran Moss NX1033, Cranbog NJ8760 |
| craw n | crow, pen, pig-sty | Craw Stane NJ4926, Craw Wood NY1379 |
| croft n | land of superior quality, kept constantly manured and under crop, smallholding | Westburn Croft NJ9420, White Croft NM9336 |
| croo n | small yard, sheep pen | Billia Croo HY2210, Croo Field HU2051 |
| crook n | from cruik: bend in a river, curved or crooked piece of ground | Avoncrook NS9472, Crook of Devon NO0300 |
| crooked n | bent, winding | Crooked Bank NS9010, Crookedshaws NT8025 |
| cutty adj | short | Cutty Cleuch NY2279 |
| dass n | ledge on a hillside or cliff | Green Dass NX9198, The Dass NT4750 |
| daugh n | see davoch | Daugh of Aberlour NJ2842 |
| davoch n | measure of land | Easter Davoch NJ4607, Davoch of Grange NJ4851 |
| dean, den n | deep wooded valley (dean - south of the Forth, den – north of the Forth) | Dunglass Dean NT7671, Easter Denhead NO2441 |
| dess n | see dass | Desswood NO5799 |
| dod n | bare hill with rounded top | Deuchrie Dod NT6272, Friardykes Dod NT6569 |
| dodd n | see dod | Dodd Sike NY7079, Great Dodd NY7992 |
| doocot n | dovecot | Doocot Den NJ7863, Doocot Point HY4716 |
| doup n | bottom, end of anything, buttocks, backside | Little Doups NJ8361, The Doups NT6536 |
| drum n | long narrow ridge or knoll | Disdow Drum NX6156, South Drum NO5359 |
| dub n | small pool of water, puddle | Waterless Dub NT2394, Davy’s Dub NS1855 |
| dyke n | stone or turf wall | Deer Dyke NO6676, Dykefoot NO4781 |