Translate English text into Khuzdul, the secret language of the Dwarves created by J.R.R. Tolkien for Middle-earth.
Khuzdul is the secret language of the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Unlike Elvish languages such as Sindarin and Quenya, Khuzdul was intentionally kept hidden by the Dwarves, making it one of the most mysterious and least documented languages in Tolkien's works. It draws heavily from Semitic language structures, featuring triconsonantal roots and agglutinative grammar.
This translator converts English text into Khuzdul using known vocabulary from Tolkien's published works, linguistic appendices, and scholarly reconstructions based on established grammatical patterns. Where canonical words exist, they are used directly. For words without attested Khuzdul equivalents, the translator constructs plausible forms following Tolkien's documented phonological and morphological rules.
The Dwarves wrote Khuzdul using the Cirth runic system, particularly the Angerthas Moria adaptation. This translator can output text in both romanized Khuzdul and Cirth rune transliterations, allowing you to see how Dwarvish text would appear carved in stone.
| Letter | Rune |
|--------|------|
| A | ᚨ |
| B | ᛒ |
| C | ᚲ |
| D | ᛞ |
| E | ᛖ |
| F | ᚠ |
| G | ᚷ |
| H | ᚺ |
| I | ᛁ |
| J | ᛃ |
| K | ᚲ |
| L | ᛚ |
| M | ᛗ |
| N | ᚾ |
| O | ᛟ |
| P | ᛈ |
| Q | ᚲᚹ |
| R | ᚱ |
| S | ᛊ |
| T | ᛏ |
| U | ᚢ |
| V | ᚹ |
| W | ᚹ |
| X | ᚲᛊ |
| Y | ᛃ |
| Z | ᛉ |
| 0 | ᛬ |
| 1 | ᛁ |
| 2 | ᛁᛁ |
| 3 | ᛁᛁᛁ |
| 4 | ᛁᚹ |
| 5 | ᚹ |
| 6 | ᚹᛁ |
| 7 | ᚹᛁᛁ |
| 8 | ᚹᛁᛁᛁ |
| 9 | ᛁᚲ |
The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep.
Khazâd sapdu aglâb id aglâb tharkûn.
Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Welcome to the halls of stone, friend.
Gamut manun zahar uzbad-agân, naddith.
The mountain is our home and our fortress.
Shathûr zê manun uzbad id manun gathol.
Tolkien created relatively little Khuzdul compared to his Elvish languages. Only about 30-40 words and a handful of phrases are attested in his published works and posthumous writings. This is intentional — the Dwarves kept their language secret. The most famous example is the battle cry 'Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!' (Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!).
Khuzdul is the spoken and written language of the Dwarves — its vocabulary, grammar, and phonology. Cirth is the runic writing system used to write Khuzdul (and other languages). Think of it like the difference between English (the language) and the Latin alphabet (the script). The Dwarves adapted the Cirth system created by the Elf Daeron into their own variant called Angerthas Moria.
Yes, Tolkien explicitly modeled Khuzdul on Semitic languages, particularly Hebrew and Arabic. It uses triconsonantal roots (three-consonant bases that carry core meaning), similar phonology with pharyngeal and emphatic consonants, and broken plural patterns. For example, the root Kh-Z-D relates to Dwarves: Khazâd (Dwarves), Khuzdul (Dwarvish language).
Neo-Khuzdul refers to scholarly reconstructions of Dwarvish vocabulary that Tolkien never wrote. Linguists and Tolkien scholars create new words by applying the grammatical and phonological rules Tolkien established to fill gaps in the vocabulary. These are educated extrapolations, not canonical Tolkien, but they follow his documented patterns faithfully.
Absolutely. Select the 'Formal / Inscriptions' context and 'Cirth Runes' output mode for authentic-looking Dwarvish inscriptions suitable for props, artwork, jewelry engravings, or RPG materials. Keep in mind that the runic output uses Unicode approximations of Cirth — for pixel-perfect accuracy, you may want to cross-reference with a dedicated Cirth font.
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