Scottish words: crabbit

I suppose crabbit is just a Scottish version of the English word “crabbed”, but you never really here people using that word. But crabbit is a favourite descriptive word in Scotland and it just means bad tempered or grumpy.

When I was young it always seemed to be old people who were crabbit, or should I say – people of a certain age – and no I don’t think I’ve quite reached the crabbit stage yet.

“Crabbit auld bugger” is a well known phrase, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out who is the most crabbit between the describer and the described!

3 thoughts on “Scottish words: crabbit

  1. >sometimes it’s hard to figure out who is the most crabbit between the describer and the described!

    LOL – liked hearing about crabbit and thankfully know few people I could describe this way 🙂

    • Jane, I know of quite a few “crabbit buggers” – and I don’t think it’s anything to do with me! It’s something about the men around Fife I think, especially the ones in their 50s – no I’m not including my husband, thankfully.

      I hope you’ve been having a lovely summer.

  2. We laughed at the Scottish language course on Tuesday when Dr Fred asked us the meaning in English of a Scots word – that I can’t even remember now. The only word we could come up with to describe the word was crabbit!

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