Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 2005 (SND, online supplement).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1985-2004
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BAD YIN, n. A wicked, dissolute person.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 5:
Don't tell me! It's Daphne next door
And that smouty wee man o' hers. They deplore
Loud and lang, their clarty-minds imagine
A'body but them's a bad yin.Sc. 1997 Scotsman 20 Aug 6:
"Paisley's no like that", she says. "Even Ferguslie's not as bad now as it was." She thinks the town is being picked on because of a few "bad yins".Sc. 2002 Mirror 8 Feb 8:
"Look at him — he looks a right bad yin." He was still nursing that broken nose and two black eyes.Sc. 2002 Evening Times 23 Oct 32:
It just shows you that when you're a goalkeeper all it takes is one mistake in a game — or, in Big Rab's case, three mistakes in a game — and you're the bad yin.Sc. 2004 Scotland on Sunday 25 Apr 1:
"We lived in the South Side, which in the 1950s was quite posh," he says. "Four floors up in a tenement, everyone knew each other. ... And up on the top deck, the bad yins like us."
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"Bad Yin n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 19 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00090304>
