Word.ws English Dictionary

unco

unco adjective: strange, weird.

unco: strange, weird
Image: Hippietrail, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective (1)

unco (comparative more unco, superlative most unco)

  1. (Scotland) Strange, weird.
    • It was noted by them that kenned best that her cantrips were at their worst when the tides in the Sker Bay ebbed between the hours of twelve and one. At this season of the night the tides of mortality run lowest, and when the outgoing of these unco waters fell in with the setting of the current of...1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
    • And the second quean was Hope and she was near as unco as Faith, but had right bonny hair, red hair, though maybe you'd call it auburn […].1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 18

Adverb

unco (not comparable)

  1. (Northern, Scotland, UK) Very.
    • ‘Ye should tear up this carpet, Robbie,’ Uncle Peter called back over his shoulder. ‘It's most unco wearisome when a body′s leg-weary.’1920, Tod Robbins, “Who Wants a Green Bottle?”, in Freaks And Fantasies, published 2007, page 70
    • Jamie has met only two kids of women: the mainly elderly and unco good who belong to his father's congregation, and those who drink in pubs and shebeens used by nearly penniless medical students.1996, Alasdair Gray, “The Story of a Recluse”, in Every Short Story 1951-2012, Canongate, published 2012, page 267

Adjective (2)

unco (comparative more unco, superlative most unco)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Uncoordinated.
    • ‘Aren′t he the most unco kid you ever come across?’ Norm refused to have Kevin on his boat even if he begged to be taken because he was too clumsy.2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, page 106
    Synonyms:
    unco-ordinated

Synonyms of unco

Forms of unco

comparativemore unco
superlativemost unco

Origin of unco

From Scots unco, shortening of uncouth.

From uncoordinated.

Words formed from unco

Words that rhyme with unco

Questions about unco

What does unco mean?
Unco means strange, weird.
What part of speech is unco?
Unco can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near unco in the dictionary

  1. unclutteredness
  2. uncluttering
  3. unclutters
  4. uncly
  5. UNCMAC
  6. unco
  7. unco-operative
  8. unco-ordinated
  9. uncoach
  10. uncoachable
  11. uncoached

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unco (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-unco.ogg.

Cite this entry: “unco.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unco. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.