Alphabetical List of Briticisms

From Wikipedia & RPG-D
NB. I have left out most of the words associated with muggle technology.


Agony Aunt the advice column in a magazine
Alright (alright? arright?) a question and informal greeting. A slang version of "Are you well?"
Anorak a raincoat. Slang term for a geeks with interests in niche subjects such as trainspotting.
Argy-bargy any type of disagreement, ranging from verbal to physical violence
Arse your bottom. What Americans call an 'ass'
Ass lit: a mule. slang: An idiot or dimwitted person

Balls-up a blunder or mistake
Banger 1. a sausage 2. a small firework
Bap 1. a soft, white, floury bread roll 2. (chief. N. Ireland) a person's head
Barney a small quarrel
Barrister the only type of lawyer qualified to argue cases in both higher and lower courts.
Bedsit a one-room flat that serves as kitchen, living and bedroom with shared bathroom facilities
Bell end lit: penis. slang: A male-oriented insult.
Bender a drinking binge or pub crawl.
Berk a silly person
Bespoke custom made
Biccie a biscuit
Bint derogatory term for a woman. Ranges in harshness.
Black pudding blood sausage
Bladdered drunk
Blag to achieve by deception. A scam or tall story. {this is also the name of a quidditch foul}
Bleeder a derogatory term for a man, especially one who acts irritatingly or irresponsibly.
Bleeding (bleedin') Northern alternative to "bloody"
Blimey an exclamation of surprise. Also cor blimey.
Bloke a man
Bloody used to express anger or for emphasis. "bloody hell"
Blooming (bloomin') A less coarse alternative to bloody
Bobby a police officer
Bodge to ruin, to make a bad job of.
Boffin a science or engineering nerd.
Bog the toilet
Bog roll toilet paper
Bog-standard ordinary, run-of-the-mill
Boiled sweet a type of confection. Hard candy.
Bollocks lit: testicles slang: A load of (verbal) rubbish.
Bone idle lazy
Bonk have sex with
Breaky breakfast
Brolly umberella
Bugger a mild insult. Typically used with a modifying adjective; you would call someone a "clever bugger" or a "silly little bugger".
Buggered lit: sodomised slang: worn out, lacks motivation (as in "can't be buggered")
Bugger all absolutely nothing
Bully sarcastic term for good. "Bully for you!"
Butty a sandwich. Especially one made of hot chips.

Cack poo. "Cack your pants" can also be used to describe someone talking a lot of nonsense.
Caff short for cafe.
Candy floss cotton candy
Chancer an opportunist
Chav originally from Northern England, now used nationally. A derogatory word to denoted the nouveau riche or working class person who wears designer copies, fake gold bling and is a trouble maker.
Cheek/ Cheeky impertinent. A child answering back to an adult would be told not to be so cheeky. A young adult can be reminded to respect their superiors by being told not to give any cheek.
Cheerio an informal farewell.
Chemist a pharmacy or drug store
Chicken/ Chook term of endearment, typically used by adults toward children
Chimney pot The cylindrical, topmost part of a chimney, where the smoke comes out.
Chips french fries (proper chips are thick cut, though)
Chip shop (chippy, Scots & Ire: chipper) fish and chip shop
Chinwag to chat
Chucked thrown. Also used with a modifying verb - chucked out, chucked up, etc.
Chuffed proud or pleased
Chunter (alt sp: chunner) to mutter or grumble. to talk continuously.
Cig/ Ciggy cigarette
Class short for classy. Something that's really good.
Coalition government made up of two or more political parties
Cock up error or mistake (from archery terminology, not anatomy)
Coddswallop similar to bollocks but less rude.
Common Land part of a manor over which other people have tradition rights, such as being allowed to graze livestock, cut turf or collect firewood.
Compère master of ceremonies (MC)
Compulsory Purchase power of the government to take private property for public use
Cool box/ Cooler box for keeping food and liquids cool
Cop off with to successfully engage the company of a sexual partner. To have sex with.
Cor exclamation of surprise. (alteration of God)
Costermonger seller of fruit & vegetables
Cotton bud Q-tip
Cotton wool Absorbent cotton, cotton ball
Council house, housing, flat, estate public housing. US equiv = Projects
Cracking Something that's really great
Crack on to get on with something. To flirt with someone.
Crikey exclamation of surprise
Crisps commercially made potato chips.
Cuppa cup of tea

Daft odd, mad, eccentric or crazy, often amusingly so.
Dekko informal to have a look.
Doddle something accomplished easily
Dodgy unreliable or untrustworthy. Sketchy
Dogsbody someone who carries out menial tasks on another's behalf. a grunt.
Dole welfare, unemployment benefits.
Dosh money
Doss to be lazy. Scot: so easy as to encourage laziness "that lesson was doss"
Dossing off to truant
Double parked to have two drinks in your hand (or on the table) at once.
Draper a dealer in drapery (clothes, textiles, etc)
Draughts checkers
Drawing pin thumb tack
Dress circle seats in the first balcony of a theatre.
Duck term of endearment, typically used by adults toward children
Dustbin rubbish bin, especially one left out for cleanup (bin = wastepaper basket)

Electric fire/heater space heater
'ello hello with the h dropped
'ey up Northern English. generic greeting.

Faff to dither, waste time. mostly Northern England & South Wales
Fag cigarette.
Fag end cigarette butt
Fairy cake a type of cupcake, especially one decorated by children and sold at fêtes.
Fairy lights christmas lights
Fanny female genitalia
Feck Irish from "in faith". Mostly used as an alternative to F***, since it was popularised by the television series Father Ted.
Fiddly difficult to operate. Requiring dexterity
Fish fingers fish sticks
Fit someone very attractive
Fiver five pound note
Fizzy drink carbonated soft drink
Flannel washcloth
Flat apartment
Flutter a bet
Footie football (soccer)
Footpath path that is only for those on foot. Not the pavement, which is the path next to the curb.
Fortnight 14 days
Fringe bangs. The hair covering your forehead.
Full stop that dot at the end of the sentence.

Gabby talkative
Gaffer old man. boss, football manager
Gagging desperate
Gaol British spelling of jail
Get off with to make out. does not usually imply sex.
Git idiot or annoying person.
Glandular Fever mononucleosis
Gob 1. mouth, 2. spit phlegm
Gob-shite slang for someone loud-mouthed and offensive
Gobsmacked astonished
Goolies inoffensive term for testicles. Often used among young children.
Gormless stupid or clumsy
Graft physical labour "the hard graft"
Grass to tattle on someone, especially to the police
Grotty disgusting, dirty. Of poor quality
Gutted disappointed. Upset.
Guv'nor/ Guv your manager.

Half- "half-eight" half past the hour.
Ha'porth pronounced hay-puth. half-penny worth.
Heya/ Hiya greeting. popular in Wales
High street the primary business and shopping street. There is a literal High Street in London, but any main business street is also a high street.
Higgledy-piggledy in disarray
Hire borrow for a set period of time
Hob hot surface of the stove (where hobgoblins come from - they were household spirits)
Hold-all duffel bag
Hols short for holidays
Hundreds and Thousands coloured sprinkles used in cake decorating

Ice Lolly frozen fruit juice on a stick
Icing/ icing sugar Frosting. The type of sugar used to make it.
Inverted commas Quotation marks
Ironmongery Ironware, hardware, the hardware store.

Jacket potato a baked potato cooked in the skin
Jam fruit preserves. What Americans call jelly.
Jammy lucky
Jelly a gelatin based dessert. What Americans call jello.
Jiggery-pokery tinker with something in a way that a non-expert is unlikely to understand.
Jobsworth a minor official who refuses to be flexible in the application of rules. ("it's more than my job's worth") also one who uses their job description in a deliberately obstructive way.
Jog on blunt & usually rude way of telling someone to go away
Johnny condom
John Thomas slang for penis. From Lady Chatterly's Lover.
Jumble Sale rummage sale
Jumper a pullover or sweater

Karno's Army a chaotic, ineffective team
kecks trousers or underpants
Kerfuffle a disorderly outburst
Kip nap or sleep
Kit clothing
Knackered exhausted
Knacker's yard place where livestock are sent to be slaughtered.
Knackers slang - testicles
Knickers what Americans call panties.

Ladybird ladybug
Langer originally Irish. Someone who is an idiot.
Laundrette laundromat
Lav short of lavatory. the toilet
Lessons classes
Let-out a means of avoiding something
Lock-in illegal gathering in a pub after closing time, where the owner "locks in" his patrons to avoid being caught by police. Unless the landlord charges for drinks, the patrons are considered his guests. If money is exchanged, it is considered a present from the guest for the landlord's hospitality.
Lodger a tenant in a boarding house.
Lolly see ice lolly.
Loo toilet, bathroom, restroom.
Lurgy 1. a fictitious disease similar to cooties, passed on by touch. 2. references flu-like symptoms. 3. a method of expressing that you are ill without saying what it is either because you do not know or do not wish to share the information.

Main the chief pipe carrying a something to the area. Water main, gas main, etc.
Manky to feel dirty, rough, out of sorts. Something that looks that way.
Mardy cheif. Northern & Central England. describes someone angry, in a bad mood, a crybaby or a whinger. To throw a mardy is to throw a tantrum.
Mate a friend especially a male friend
Mentioned in dispatches identified for valour or gallantry in action. US = Decorated.
Millard 1,000,000,000 superseded by the US billion. Prob. still used in the Wizarding World.
Mince 1. ground meat 2. to walk effeminately 3. to obscure your meaning
Minge (rhymes with singe) vulgar - female genitals or pubic hair
Minger (from Scots "ming") someone unattractive
Moggy a non-pedigree cat
Mouthing off shouting, ranting or swearing a lot. Also to talk back to one's superiors.
Mug someone who is gullible
Mum your mother. "Mom" is an Americanism.
Muppet an incompetent or foolish person

Naff tacky, cheap, low quality
Nark 1. Irritated. 2. a police informer
Nappy diaper
Newsagent a shop owner or dealer who sells newspapers
Nice one a way of thanking or congratulating someone
Nick 1. to steal 2. the police station or prison
Nicked arrested
Nob 1. your head 2. a wealthy person or someone from the upper classes (especially gentry)
Nosh food or a meal
Nosey Parker a busybody
Nous (rhymes with moose) good sense, shrewdness
Nowt nothing at all. Northern English
Numpty an idiot
Nutter a crazy or insane person

OAP old age pensioner
Off licence an establishment licensed to sell alcohol to be drunk off the premises
Off the peg ready made clothes (not bespoke)
Offal the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animals
Oi exclamation to gain attention roughly equivalent to "hey"
One off something that happens only once. It is unique. Or a fluke.
On the piss drinking heavily. To go out to get drunk.
Owt anything. Northern England

Page Three/ Page Three Girl A feature found in some tabloid newspapers, consisting of a large picture of topless, female glamour models. The type of model used for this feature.
Paper round paper route
Paraffin kerosene
Paracetamol a common and widely available drug for the treatment of headaches, fever and other small aches and pains.
Pasty, Cornish pasty a hard pastry case filled with meat and vegetables.
Pear shaped dramatically wrong. "go pear shaped"
Peckish moderately hungry
Pernickety overly precise
Pikey a perjorative used to refer to Travellers (gypsies).
Pillock a mildy derogatory term for a foolish person
Pinch to steal
Pissed drunk
Plaster (sticking plaster) band aid
Pleb lower class person. an idiot.
Plonk cheap wine, especially red
Plonker fool mostly south east England
Ponce someone with overly affected airs and graces
Ponce about to act like a fop, wander aimlessly about with no attempt to achieve anything.
Ponce off to leave in a pompous manner
Pong a strong and unpleasant smell
Pouffe a small, drum-shaped soft furnishing used as a foot rest. an ottoman.
Porkies lies
Poxy something that is unsatisfactory or in bad condition.
Pram baby carriage
Prat an incompetent and ineffectual person. an idiot.
Proper real or very much. "a proper hero"
Pub short for public house. Like an American bar.
Publican the landlord of the pub.
Pud short for pudding. May mean dessert in general or a literal pudding.
Punch-up a fist fight
Punnet a small basket for fruit, usually strawberries
Pushchair stroller

Quality a thing that is really good is "quality" 18-25 age bracket slang
Quid pound sterling monetary unit (remains quid in plural). Muggle slang
Quiff forelock. 1950s haircut

Randy horny, lustful
Rank really smelly, by extension anything disgusting.
Rat-arsed extremely drunk
Recce (pronounced recky) reconnaissance
Red Top simply written and sensationalist tabloid newspaper
Registry Office the official place where births, deaths and marriages are registered
Right of way a path, usually old, on which one has the right to travel regardless of land ownership. See also; common land
Rodgering to engage in a sexual act, or to suggest it.
Row an argument (usually a loud one)
Rota a roll call or roster of names with rotation of duties
Rubber a pencil eraser
Rubbish something worthess, litter.
Rucksack backpack
Rumpy pumpy sex. Popularised by the TV series Blackadder, therefore a muggle term.