Brae
- the Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon and the Braes o' Ballochmyle have been immortalised in song by Robert Burns. A brae can be a hillside, or a bank of a river or lake, though in street-names it usually denotes a road with a steep gradient. There are Braeheads and Braefoots (but not Braefeet) throughout the country. The origin of the word is not straightforward. Old English brū eyebrow; 'brow; brow of a hill' and its Old Norse sister-form brá are involved, but Gaelic bràighe 'the upper part of something' has also played a role, particularly in names like the Braes of Angus. In figurative use, something that has gone doun the brae has fallen to wrack and ruin.