North Dakota slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.
This page collects regional vocabulary from North Dakota: slang you'll hear in conversation, sayings that travel through families, and pronunciations that mark a person as a local. Pick a city to narrow the list, or keep "All cities" to see the full North Dakota picture.
19 words
Minnesota affirmative: 'absolutely, you can count on it.'
Upper Midwest sentence-tag: 'you know.'
North Dakota name for Richardson's ground squirrel.
Dakotas diner staple: open-faced roast beef on bread with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Fast Canadian low that crashes temps overnight.
The ditch alongside a road
Sliding behind a moving car on snow or ice
A North Dakota German-Russian fried meat pie.
North Dakota’s license-plate and official nickname.
North Dakota slang is the set of dialect words, regional sayings, and local pronunciations used in North Dakota but not in standard American English. This page lists them with meanings, examples, and the type of each word.
Words and phrases associated with North Dakota include hotdish, uffda, come with, you betcha. Open any entry above to see its meaning, type, and where in North Dakota it is used.
"hotdish" is listed on Dialectly as a regional word connected to North Dakota. Each word page shows the full set of states and cities where it is recorded, plus a map.
Like every region, North Dakota keeps vocabulary and pronunciations that mark a speaker as local. Standard American English levels these out; a regional dictionary like Dialectly records them before they fade.
