Appalachian English Lexicon

2026-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

A working glossary of words and phrases from the western North Carolina mountains. This is the dialect I grew up with — the one that surfaces in my writing when I’m not actively suppressing it, which I’ve decided to stop doing. If something I wrote sent you here, welcome.</p>

This list is a living document. Words get added as they come back to me.</p>

Word / Phrase</th>	Meaning</th></tr></thead>
absquatulate</strong></td>	to leave suddenly and without explanation</td></tr>
aim</strong></td>	to intend, to plan to do something (“I aim to fix that”)</td></tr>
ain’t</strong></td>	am not / is not / are not / have not — a perfectly valid contraction</td></tr>
airish</strong></td>	cool and breezy with a bite to it; a chill in the air that isn’t quite cold</td></tr>
all-fired</strong></td>	very, quite, intensely — “all-fired important” means seriously important</td></tr>
allow</strong></td>	to suppose, to reckon, to figure (“I allow that’s not right”)</td></tr>
anymore</strong></td>	nowadays</em> — used positively, which is the opposite of standard American English. “Anymore, everything runs in containers” means these days</em>, not no longer</em>. One of the most distinctively Appalachian constructions in the dialect.</td></tr>
aye god</strong></td>	exclamation of surprise, wonder, or exasperation — “well, I’ll be” with more conviction</td></tr>
bad to</strong></td>	prone to, inclined toward (“he’s bad to forget things”)</td></tr>
ballhoot</strong></td>	to move recklessly fast; to charge headlong into something</td></tr>
biggety</strong></td>	conceited, acting above your station, putting on airs you haven’t earned</td></tr>
bless your heart</strong></td>	context-dependent: genuine sympathy or</em> the politest possible condescension — the tone tells you which</td></tr>
bodacious</strong></td>	impressive, bold, remarkable</td></tr>
booger</strong></td>	a scary or stubborn problem; something difficult to deal with</td></tr>
boogered up</strong></td>	broken, messed up, in a bad state</td></tr>
bowed up</strong></td>	defensive, confrontational, ready to push back</td></tr>
britches</strong></td>	pants, trousers</td></tr>
carry</strong></td>	to take someone somewhere, to escort (“let me carry you through this”)</td></tr>
cattywampus</strong></td>	crooked, misaligned, out of whack — see also sigogglin</em>, whomperjawed</em></td></tr>
chunk</strong></td>	to throw (“chunk that over here”)</td></tr>
come to find out</strong></td>	to eventually discover or realize (“come to find out, it was a typo”)</td></tr>
commence</strong></td>	to begin, to start (“it commenced to rain something terrible”)</td></tr>
cove</strong></td>	a small, enclosed mountain valley — narrower and more sheltered than a holler; hollows open up, coves close in</td></tr>
consarned</strong></td>	confounded, blasted — a mild intensifier expressing frustration</td></tr>
coot</strong></td>	an odd or eccentric person</td></tr>
crick</strong></td>	a small stream or creek</td></tr>
dadgum</strong></td>	mild oath expressing frustration; a substitute for stronger language</td></tr>
dander</strong></td>	anger, temper (“got my dander up”)</td></tr>
dauncy</strong></td>	feeling off, not quite right, a little queasy — not sick enough to say so, just dauncy</td></tr>
directly</strong></td>	soon, in a little while — not immediately, but before long</td></tr>
done</strong></td>	already; a completive marker (“it done quit on me”)</td></tr>
dope</strong></td>	a soft drink, soda — in the NC mountains, often specifically Coca-Cola</td></tr>
druthers</strong></td>	preferences; what you’d rather do (“if I had my druthers”)</td></tr>
fair to middlin’</strong></td>	passable, okay — not great, not terrible</td></tr>
feisty</strong></td>	spirited, scrappy, ready to push back</td></tr>
fetch</strong></td>	to go get something and bring it back (“fetch me that wrench”)</td></tr>
fixin’ to</strong></td>	about to, getting ready to do something</td></tr>
frog-strangler</strong></td>	a very heavy rain — also gully-washer</em>, toad-strangler</em>; a storm that earns its name</td></tr>
fur piece</strong></td>	a long way off, a considerable distance (“that’s a fur piece from here”)</td></tr>
gawsh</strong></td>	mild exclamation of surprise or exasperation</td></tr>
give out</strong></td>	to become exhausted; to stop working</td></tr>
ground boomer</strong></td>	a groundhog, woodchuck</td></tr>
granny woman</strong></td>	a folk healer, midwife, or keeper of traditional remedies — distinct from a doctor; trusted in ways a doctor might not be</td></tr>
gumption</strong></td>	initiative, nerve, common sense</td></tr>
haint</strong></td>	a ghost, a phantom; something that lingers and won’t go away</td></tr>
hankerin’</strong></td>	a craving, a strong desire</td></tr>
heap</strong></td>	a large amount, a lot (“a heap of trouble”)</td></tr>
highfalutin</strong></td>	pretentious, overcomplicated, putting on airs</td></tr>
holler</strong></td>	a small valley nestled between hills; also to call out</td></tr>
hornswoggle</strong></td>	to trick, deceive, or swindle</td></tr>
I swan</strong></td>	mild oath of surprise or exasperation; “I swear” softened</td></tr>
ill</strong></td>	angry, in a foul mood — not</em> sick. “She’s ill today” means she’s in a temper, not under the weather. Outsiders get this wrong constantly.</td></tr>
jasper</strong></td>	a fool; a contemptible or untrustworthy person; also just a strange one</td></tr>
kinfolk</strong></td>	family, relatives — blood and chosen both count</td></tr>
laurel hell</strong></td>	a dense, impenetrable thicket of mountain laurel you can’t get through</td></tr>
lay out</strong></td>	to be absent, skip, avoid responsibility — “laid out of school” means played hooky</td></tr>
let on</strong></td>	to pretend; to indicate; to reveal (“don’t let on like that’s expected”)</td></tr>
liable to</strong></td>	likely to, apt to (“that’s liable to break something”)</td></tr>
lollygag</strong></td>	to waste time, move slowly, dawdle</td></tr>
make out</strong></td>	to manage, to get along; how something turned out (“how’d it make out?”)</td></tr>
mamaw</strong></td>	grandmother — warm, immediate, always right</td></tr>
mash</strong></td>	to press or push something, like a button</td></tr>
maw</strong></td>	mother, mom</td></tr>
mess</strong></td>	a quantity, a serving — “a mess of beans” is enough beans for a meal; not pejorative</td></tr>
might could</strong></td>	maybe able to; potentially can (“you might could fix it with a flag”)</td></tr>
mullygrubs</strong></td>	a state of low spirits, the blues; general malaise</td></tr>
nary</strong></td>	not a single one, none at all (“nary a warning”)</td></tr>
nigh</strong></td>	near, nearly, almost (“nigh on impossible”)</td></tr>
no-count</strong></td>	worthless, lazy, good for nothing</td></tr>
norate</strong></td>	to spread news, announce to everyone — “if she norates it, everybody’ll know by supper”</td></tr>
of a morning</strong></td>	in the morning — “of an evening” works the same way</td></tr>
ornery</strong></td>	stubborn, cantankerous, difficult</td></tr>
papaw</strong></td>	grandfather — alternate spelling of pawpaw</td></tr>
passel</strong></td>	a large bunch, a whole lot of something</td></tr>
paw</strong></td>	father, dad</td></tr>
pawpaw</strong></td>	grandfather; also the native Appalachian fruit tree (Asimina triloba</em>) — two meanings, both legitimate</td></tr>
peaked</strong></td>	looking or feeling poorly, sickly — two syllables: peek-id</em></td></tr>
pert near</strong></td>	pretty near, almost (“pert near got it on the first try”)</td></tr>
piece</strong></td>	a bit of a distance or time (“down the road a piece”)</td></tr>
piddlin’</strong></td>	trivial, small, beneath notice; also tinkering aimlessly</td></tr>
plumb</strong></td>	completely, absolutely (“plumb forgot”)</td></tr>
poke</strong></td>	a bag or sack; also the pokeweed plant, which is toxic if prepared wrong and a spring green if prepared right</td></tr>
polecat</strong></td>	a skunk; a disagreeable or untrustworthy person or thing</td></tr>
pop</strong></td>	a soft drink, soda — see also dope</em></td></tr>
powerful</strong></td>	very, intensely — used as an adverb (“powerful strange”)</td></tr>
puny</strong></td>	sickly, weak, fragile; also small and insufficient</td></tr>
purty</strong></td>	pretty</td></tr>
reckon</strong></td>	think, suppose, figure</td></tr>
redd up</strong></td>	to clean up, tidy a space — “redd up the kitchen”</td></tr>
rigamarole</strong></td>	an unnecessarily complicated process or procedure</td></tr>
right smart</strong></td>	quite a bit, a considerable amount</td></tr>
sallet</strong></td>	cooked greens — an old pronunciation of “salad” that stuck; “poke sallet” is pokeweed greens cooked down right</td></tr>
sang</strong></td>	ginseng — “going sanging” means hunting wild ginseng in the woods, which is serious business in the NC mountains</td></tr>
shoot fire</strong></td>	mild exclamation of frustration or surprise</td></tr>
sigogglin</strong></td>	lopsided, off-kilter, structurally unsound — see also cattywampus</em>, whomperjawed</em></td></tr>
sorry</strong></td>	worthless, no-account, of poor quality — not</em> apologetic. “That’s a sorry excuse” means it’s a bad one, not a remorseful one. Another one outsiders get backwards.</td></tr>
sparkin’</strong></td>	courting, dating — “they were sparkin’” means they were sweet on each other</td></tr>
skedaddle</strong></td>	to leave quickly, get out fast</td></tr>
slanchways</strong></td>	at a slant, sideways, not quite straight</td></tr>
spell</strong></td>	a period of time (“spent a good spell on that bug”)</td></tr>
stove up</strong></td>	beaten up, broken down, barely functional</td></tr>
study on</strong></td>	to think carefully about something, to consider it properly</td></tr>
sull / sulled up</strong></td>	to pout; to become unresponsive and just sit there</td></tr>
that dog don’t hunt</strong></td>	that idea won’t work; that argument doesn’t hold</td></tr>
tater</strong></td>	potato</td></tr>
tetched</strong></td>	a little crazy, touched in the head</td></tr>
tolerable</strong></td>	fairly well, not bad (“how’s it going? tolerable”)</td></tr>
took on</strong></td>	made a fuss, carried on about something</td></tr>
tote</strong></td>	to carry, to haul around</td></tr>
tuckered out</strong></td>	completely exhausted, worn down</td></tr>
tump</strong></td>	to tip over, knock over, topple</td></tr>
up and</strong></td>	suddenly did something, often unexpectedly (“it up and quit”)</td></tr>
used to could</strong></td>	used to be able to — “I used to could do that without looking it up”</td></tr>
varmint</strong></td>	a pest; a troublesome creature or person</td></tr>
vittles</strong></td>	food, provisions — from “victuals,” but said the way it sounds</td></tr>
what-all</strong></td>	what various things, what all — “what-all did you get?” widens the question to include everything</td></tr>
whomperjawed</strong></td>	crooked, knocked askew, badly misaligned — see also cattywampus</em>, sigogglin</em></td></tr>
wore slap out</strong></td>	completely and thoroughly exhausted</td></tr>
y’all</strong></td>	you all — second person plural, and the English language’s greatest omission</td></tr>
yonder</strong></td>	over there, in that direction</td></tr>
you’uns</strong></td>	you ones, you all — the mountain-specific form; more emphatic than y’all and older</td></tr>
young’un</strong></td>	a young child; also something new or inexperienced</td></tr> </tbody></table>

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Appalachian English Lexicon