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Where every
word comes from.

Every Scottish Gaelic word and phrase on this site, and in our printables, was copied from one of the pages below and checked against it on 30 October 2026. The site’s facts (dates, census figures and quotes) were checked the same way. Words we couldn’t find in these sources were left out.

How we handle thu, sibh and pronunciation

Thu and sibh. Phrases are labelled thu or sibh only where LearnGaelic’s lessons give both forms. LearnGaelic’s Little by Little Unit 1 labels sibh “You (formal, polite, plural)” and thu “You (informal, singular)”. LearnGaelic.scot: Little by Little, Unit 1, Simple Gaelic greetings ↗
Pronunciation. No invented sound-alike spellings. Words from the Twenty Words lists link to the list, where each one has a sound clip. Phrases from the Little by Little lessons link to the lesson, which has listening. Where the LearnGaelic Dictionary has a sound file for the exact phrase, we link to that entry (149 of the 151 lesson cards link to a recording). LearnGaelic says its dictionary is “a comprehensive language tool for Gaelic learners containing 70,000 sound files”. LearnGaelic.scot: Resources ↗
Spelling. LearnGaelic says Gaelic uses the same alphabet as English but just 18 of the 26 letters, and that vowels may be written with a grave accent, called a stràc in Gaelic. LearnGaelic.scot: Scottish Gaelic Alphabet ↗
Place names. Council-area names are copied from the Local Authorities list published by Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba, including its “&” where it uses one. Towns, cities and islands come from LearnGaelic’s Twenty Words lists. We don’t give place-name meanings. Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba (AÀA) is the national advisory partnership for Gaelic place-names in Scotland. It recommends forms of Gaelic place-names for uses such as signage and maps. Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba: About ↗
Who runs LearnGaelic. LearnGaelic is a partnership between Bòrd na Gàidhlig, MG ALBA, BBC ALBA, Bòrd na Ceiltis (Alba) and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. LearnGaelic.scot: About ↗
Bòrd na Gàidhlig. Bòrd na Gàidhlig is the principal public body in Scotland responsible for promoting Gaelic development, including advising Scottish Ministers on Gaelic issues. It was established under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. Bòrd na Gàidhlig: About us ↗ Section 1 of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 is headed Bòrd na Gàidhlig. legislation.gov.uk: Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, section 1, Bòrd na Gàidhlig ↗
Research. DASG, the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic, is the University of Glasgow’s online repository of digitised texts, lexical resources and audio recordings for Scottish Gaelic. DASG: Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (University of Glasgow) ↗ Its Corpas na Gàidhlig provides the textual basis for the inter-university project Faclair na Gàidhlig (Dictionary of the Scottish Gaelic Language), on which the future historical dictionary of Gaelic will be based. DASG: Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (University of Glasgow) ↗

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Where everyword comes from.

How we handle thu, sibh and pronunciation

All sources

Where every
word comes from.