Norfolk Dialect

Words

A selection of Norfolk words.

A

Abed - to go to bed.

Acors - because.

Addle - To be confused. (as addled me sumfin proper)

Afeared - afraid.

Afore - before.

Afront - in front of.

Agist - against, or between.

Ahind - behind.

Amper - a set back, basically the H dropped from hamper.

Arter - after

Arst - Asked

As - has.

A'sarternoon - this afternoon.

A'seevnun - this evening.

A'smornun - this morning.

Atop - on top.

Atwin - between.

Axe, Axed - ask.

B

Baffled - to beat up or use badly.

Bahd - bird.

Balder - when someone talks rudely.

Bamble - shamble.

Bandy - a hare.

Barley bahd - nightingale.

Barney - argument.

Barneypig - woodlouse, also bishipig and woodpig.

Barrator - someone likely totake legal action over any tiny action.

Basking - to get wet in a shower. (I got a basking on my way over)

Beat out - puzzled (I woz beat out by it)

Best part o' some time - a long time ago

Bestow - when something is has been tidied away and you can't find it. (where did you bestow that measure)

Bishy barny bee - a ladybird, thought o be named after bishop bonner.

Blar - cry.

Bodge - to fix crudely.

Bor - boy. Used often when greeting friends. Sometimes pronounced buh. (ha' yew goin' on bor)

Bosky - drunk.

Bottle-bump - a bittern.

Bram-berries - blackberries.

Brash - undergrowth, and also overgrown land covered in brambles the ilk.

Broad - lake

Brook - broken.

Brumbles - brambles.

Brung - to bring something. (I brung it with me)

Bumby - a swampy bit of land.

C

Caddaw - a jackdaw.

Canker - caterpillar.

Cansey - A raised footpath through the fens.

Carr - a small wood. (Redcarr is a place next to a small wood)

Chuck - to give up or finish with. (I chucked it in)

Churchyard corf - A bad cough likely to put you in your grave.

Clacker - mouth.

Claggy - sticky, like clay mud.

Clout - to hit.

Cobweb-morning - a misty or dewy morning.

Cockey - a stream.

Coe - An old man who is a bit odd.

Collar - to grab.

Comin' on ter - starting to. (comin' on ter rain)

Copper-rose - poppy.

Couch-handed - left handed.

Cow-tongued - someone who talks too roughly, or too smoothly.

Craze - to pester.

Crockin - crying.

Crow-time - That time in the evening when the crows return to roost. (be back 'ere by crow-time)

Culver - pigeon.

D

Dawdlin- wasting time, going slow

Dawl - to play with a cat.

Deek - a stream.

Dene - a beach.

Delvin - name for the Swift (bird).

Dickey - donkey.

Diddlin - When you ask someone how they are you ask how they are diddling.

Diffus - difference.

Do - where do you even start with this word. I need to write a section on it specifically at some point.

Dodman - snail.

Dorn't - don't.

Dow - dove.

Drant - The way we speak in Norfolk, as opposed to the Suffolk whine.

Drindle - a drain.

Drove - unenclosed fenland road.

Dry - thirsty.

Dudder - to shiver, usually because someone has walked over where your grave will be.

Duddle-up - to snuggle.

Dussent - dare not.

E

Erriwiggle - earwig.

F

Fare - to feel or seem so. (How you faring? She fared well.)

Fusty - damp smelling.

Fillum - film.

Five-fingers - Ox Slip flower.

Flats - muddy flat areas left behind by the coastal tides.

Flitter-mouse - a bad.

Floater - the Norfolk dumpling, made with left over bread dough. Different from Sinkers that come from Suffolk.

Flocky - over ripe.

Forenoon - before lunch.

Forrads - forwards.

Foyst - to impose upon. (They foysted it on me, an I en't rid ov it yet)

Frampled - bad tempered.

Fret - to worry, or to wear away slowly.

Frolluk - to make merry.

Fruz - frozen.

Fumble-fisted - clumsy

G

Gal - girl. Used similar to bor. Also said Gel with a hard g.

Gant - a village fair.

Gawp - stare at, mouth open. (What yew gawpin' at?)

Glister - to shine.

Gorn - going.

Gitten - getting

Greenulf - green finch.

Guzunder - goes under.

H

Hant, hent, hint - Have not.

Hang - a bunch of fruit. (got a fair hang o' plums off the tree)

Ha-porth - half penny worth.

Hansey - a herron.

Haughty - windy.

Headswoman - midwife

Hedge betty - hedge sparrow.

Hen's nose full - a small ammount

Hinder - the last in a list of something.

Hintut - isn't it?

Hobby - a horse of any type.

Hold you hard - wait a moment.

Hoosh - shoo.

Hopp'n toad - frog.

Huh - wonky.

Hool - throw.

I

I aren't - I am not

Imitaten to - I intend to.

Ivva - ever

J

Jaspa - wasp.

Jiffle - fidget.

Jilly hooter - owl.

Jip - pain or illnes

Jollerfication - fun

K

Keep duin - keep going.

Kiskey - thirsty.

Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate - pansies.

L

Lig - to lie around.

Loke - a private road.

Lollop - to progress slowly. (your lolloping on)

Lug - ear.

Lummox - a clumsy person.

Lump - to hit hard.

M

Mardle - to chat.

Mawkin - scarecrow.

Mavis - a thrush.

Miller - a moth.

Mingings - mosquitoes.

Mob - to tell off. (his Ma mobbed him suffin rotten)

Mole country - graveyard.

Muggy - humid.

My heart aloive! - good grief.

My man, or my woman - tradition friendly adress for a child. (arite my woman?)

O

Occard - awkward.

Ollust - always

Oven-bird - bluetit (the shape of it's nest).

P

Pingle - to play with your food.

Pishmare - an ant.

Plague - pester.

Pollywiggle - tadpole.

Pootrud - fowl

Put your parts on - to get angry.

Q

Quaddy - short.

Queer - ill.

R

Rim - to shoe a horse.

Ringled - to get married.

Rit - past tense of to write.

Rum - odd

Rummen - something odd.

Ruttle - a phlegm rattle in the throat while breathing.

S

Shackey - untidy.

Shew - to have shown. (i shew you that)

Shink so - I should think so.

Shiver - wood splinter in the skin.

Shoshing - sloping ground.

Shrowdy - cloudy.

Shuck - a ghost dog that haunts the Acle area.

Shud - should, or shed.

Sight - a lot of people.

Sinker - a Suffolk dumpling.

Skewiff - on the huh.

Skep - beehive.

Slar - spread thickly.

Slummocked - slumped.

Smur - drizzle.

Snew - past tense of snow.

Sorely - very. (I was sorely pleased. I was sorely disappointed.)

Spank - a fast pace. (got a right spank on)

Spuffle - to talk rubbish.

Squit - nonsence.

Suffin - something.

Sun has got a hold of you - you have caught the sun.

Swimmer - a Norfolk dumpling.

T

Ta - the, that, it.

Thick end - the greater part.

Tity - small.

Titter tot - small child.

Thack - to hit.

Tom Poker - bogeyman.

Troshin - working, or walking sometimes.

W

Wash - narrow woodland path.

Wet the whistle - to have a drink.

Wherry - flat bottomed boat found on the broads.

Wherryman - the people who drove the wherries.

Whiffler - someone who walks afront to clear the crowd.

While - until.

Wind-hover - kestrel.

Wrong - toruble (you'll get wrong)

Wunt - would not.

Z

Zakly - exactly.

Pronunciation

Although I am Norfolk born an bred, an I have a fair broad accent, I am not the expert to write on pronunciation. I feel I have an idea that I should at least try to convey, in some parts, how it is that a Norfolk accent works. I'll likely miss bits because it ent always obvious to me as I have it in my head all the time.

Here we never, or at least rarely drop the H from that start of a word. Hat is Hat, where in other counties it might become 'at.

Strangely though we do, more often that not drop the "Th" at the start of words. Not all of them, but most of them. This becomes 'is, That becomes 'at, and The becomes 'e. I don't know of any other English accents that do this, but there we go.

Vowel sounds are often smooshed into one, so Going becomes gorn, and Doing becomes Dorn.

The "P" sound is often very stong, such as the P in computer becomes compooter.

The You sound in words is often not pronounced, so Music becomes Moosic.

We often drop the "s" of a plural so that "she goes" becomes "she go", and "he does" becomes "he do".

That - a Norfolk pronoun?

"Thats raining out."

In Norfolk you will never hear the word "it" at the start of a sentence cause it is always swapped with "that", or "that's" (pronounce aa's). Not only that, that is also used in the middle of sentences too when it likely shunt such as "when that falls, that'll break" or the classic "when that rain, we get wet".

Topics

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