Draconic Translator

Before building this, I tried the dragon tools that already rank. One of the top results turned "the dragon" into xosk xuth. The real word, straight from the dragon book, is darastrix. That tool's just making up sounds that feel like a dragon, and a sharp DM would catch it at the table. This Draconic translator only uses words from real D&D books and the Forgotten Realms novels, about 290 of them, starting with the short list printed in the 2003 Draconomicon. If a word's got no real Draconic, you'll see it in brackets instead of a fake.

Playing Skyrim, not D&D? That dragon tongue is different, and it lives on the Dovahzul Translator. Elf characters in the party can grab lines from the Elvish Translator.

What Is Draconic in D&D?

It's the tongue of dragons, and in 5th edition every dragonborn starts out speaking it. Kobolds and lizardfolk speak their own kinds of it, and the dragonborn of Tymanther talk so differently that some of their words get their own spelling in the word list. Wizards learn it for old spells, too. That's why the sorcerer with dragon blood is the one the party asks to read the weird scroll.

Wiki lists go A to Z, which is no help mid-game. These are the ones my test sentences kept needing.

English	Draconic	Where it turns up
dragon	darastrix	The word every other one builds on
fire	ixen	Red dragon lairs, fireball scrolls
gold	aurix	Gold dragons, and every hoard
treasure	rasvim	Hoard talk
magic	arcaniss	Spellbooks
friend	thurirl	Also means friendly
enemy	irlym	Battle cries
blood	iejir	Dragonborn oaths
death	loexil	Threats, mostly
war	aryte	Arytiss is warrior
peace	martivir	What you'll beg a dragon for
thank you	sukriya	Polite dragonborn
yes	axun	No real word for no
I / you	ya / wux	Short and hissy

How Draconic Sounds and Works

Reading it out loud is half the fun. It's hard sounds and hissing, sj and ss and sv, with an ach in there like somebody clearing their throat. Stress the first syllable, and when a dragon really wants you to listen, it leans on the end of the word as well, the way a teacher leans on NOW. Descriptions get weird: the big one goes first, then a dragon in a mood says it again after the noun. Red dragon red, basically.

There's no word for my, which surprised me. Dragons tack a little bit onto the front of a word instead, one kind for things you own and one for family. The tool drops my and your. It won't guess which one you meant. Add them yourself if your character's fussy about it.

What Broke While I Built It

Hello broke first, in a funny way. I spent a while hunting for a grand dragon greeting, a hail, great wyrm sort of line, and came up empty. What the sources actually have is wushzarath sathi. Dragonborn slang. Roughly, what's up, dude. That's what hello gives you now, with a note saying so, because greeting an ancient red like a mate at the pub seems like a quick way to get eaten.

The kobold steals my gold came back with steals in brackets. Kobolds steal all the time in D&D. Still, the real list has virlym for thief and nothing at all for the act of stealing, which says a lot about how dragons see a kobold with its claws in the hoard. I left the gap. Inventing one would make this exactly the tool I was trying not to build.

The Iokharic Alphabet

Dragon tongue has its own script, Iokharic. Each letter and number gets one sign, so a word swaps over letter by letter. Some folk in the Realms think only gold dragons can write, but every dialect, kobold and dragonborn ones included, shares that same script. You get normal letters here, the kind you can read out at the table. Making a prop? Copy the word, then spell it in Iokharic with a fantasy font. If your nerdiest player decodes it, it'll actually say something.

Draconic Translator Questions

How do you say hello in Draconic? Wushzarath sathi, the only greeting on record in the official sources. Very casual, though. Dragonborn slang, not a royal welcome. Maybe don't open with it in front of an ancient red.

What is the Draconic word for dragon? Darastrix. It turns up inside bigger words, too: darastrixethe is dragon blood, and darasv is half dragon.

How do you say thank you in Draconic? Sukriya. And if a dragon somehow thanks you, nar viraka is you're welcome. Unlikely, sure, but you'll be ready.

Is this Draconic translator accurate? Every word comes from a real D&D book or a Forgotten Realms novel, checked against the wiki's Draconic dictionary, and anything missing shows up in brackets instead. Nothing's made up.

Who speaks Draconic in D&D? Dragons, dragonborn and kobolds first of all. The 3.5 Monster Manual adds lizardfolk and even wyverns, so the wyvern circling your camp can follow every word of your plan. Wizards pick it up for the old spellbooks.

What alphabet does Draconic use? Iokharic. It has a character for every letter and number, so you can write any Draconic word in it once you've got the word itself.