50 Essential Dothraki Words — Vocabulary Guide
50 Essential Dothraki Words — Vocabulary Guide
Quick Answer: Dothraki is the constructed horse-warrior language David J. Peterson built for HBO's Game of Thrones, with 3,000+ documented words. This guide covers 47 essential Dothraki words across 7 categories — greetings, nature, people, animals, emotions, actions, and warrior culture — all drawn from canon dialogue, the Living Language Dothraki course, and Peterson's official dothraki.org corpus, with pronunciation for each.
Whether you fell in love with the language from Daenerys's wedding scene or you're building a Dothraki-inspired character for a tabletop campaign, this guide gives you the most useful, most attested words in the language — organized by category, with pronunciation and notes on cultural usage.
A quick note on sourcing: every word below comes from Peterson's official corpus — the show's dialogue, the Living Language Dothraki course book, or the dothraki.org community dictionary that Peterson himself maintains and sanctions. Where a term is a well-established extension rather than a show-attested word, it's marked (community/extended vocabulary).
For custom phrases beyond this list, try the Elvish, Klingon & Dothraki translate tool — it also handles Dothraki grammar patterns.
Greetings & Farewells (7 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| M'athchomaroon | mah-CHOM-ah-roon | Hello (formal) | Literally "with respect" — see our Dothraki greetings guide |
| Athchomar chomakea | ATH-choh-mar choh-mah-KAY-ah | The formal reply to hello | "Respect to those who are respectful" |
| Hash yer dothrae chek? | hash yer DOTH-ray chek | How are you? | Literally "are you riding well?" |
| Fonas chek | FOH-nas chek | Goodbye (casual) | Literally "hunt well" |
| Dothras chek | DOTH-ras chek | Safe travels | Literally "ride well," said to a departing rider |
| Hajas | HAH-jas | Be strong | A blessing/farewell used between warriors |
| San athchomari | san ath-choh-MAH-ree | Thank you | A more formal thanks; see our Dothraki greetings complete guide |
People & Titles (8 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khal | KHAL | King / warlord | Leader of a khalasar (riding clan) |
| Khaleesi | kha-LEE-see | Queen / khal's wife | Daenerys Targaryen's title in the show |
| Khaleen | kha-LEEN | Widow of a khal | Joins the dosh khaleen, the council of widowed khaleesis |
| Dosh khaleen | dosh kha-LEEN | The crones / widow-council | Dothraki religious authority, seers |
| Khalasar | kha-la-SAR | A Dothraki riding clan/tribe | The basic social and military unit |
| Ko | KOH | A small riding group | Smaller than a full khalasar |
| Arakh | AH-rakh | Curved sword | The signature Dothraki weapon |
| Qoyali | koy-AH-lee | Bloodrider | A khal's sworn bodyguard-companion; see Dothraki body vocabulary |
Nature & World (6 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vorsa | VOR-sah | Fire | Central to funeral and purification ritual |
| Rhaesh | RAY-esh | Land / world | Rhaesh Andahli = "the land of Andals" (Westeros) |
| Shieraki | shee-EH-rah-kee | Star (also "eye") | See our Dothraki body vocabulary guide for the eye/star dual meaning |
| Eveth | EH-veth | Water | Scarce and precious across the grass sea |
| Hrazef | HRAH-zef | Horse | The center of Dothraki material culture |
| Vaes | VAH-es | City | Vaes Dothrak — the one permanent Dothraki settlement |
Note: Dothraki, a landlocked horse culture, has no attested native word for "ship" — a genuine canon gap rather than a coined term.
Animals (5 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hrazef | HRAH-zef | Horse | See Nature section above |
| Jak | JAHK | Rabbit | Simple game animal |
| Hrakkar | hra-KAR | White lion | A trophy animal; Drogo wears a hrakkar-skin cloak |
| Chiories | chee-OR-ees | Slave (used broadly, including of captured people) | A culturally loaded term, not an animal, but frequently mistranslated — included here for accuracy |
| Zhavvorsa | zhav-VOR-sah | Dragon | Show-attested (compound of vorsa, fire) — heard in the line "Sek, zhavvorsa" ("Yes, dragon") |
Emotions & States (7 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vezhven | VEZH-ven | Magnificent / excellent | The highest general compliment in Dothraki |
| Ifak | ee-FAHK | Weak / lowly (also "slave/foreigner" as an insult root) | Compounds into many insults — see Dothraki body vocabulary |
| Chek | CHEK | Good / well | Used constantly — dothrae chek = "rides well" |
| Sek | SEK | Yes | Basic affirmative |
| Vo | VOH | No | Basic negative |
| Tih | TEEH | Heart / bone / courage (metaphorical) | The seat of bravery — see body vocabulary guide |
| Hajas | HAH-jas | Strength / "be strong" | Doubles as both noun and blessing |
Actions & Verbs (7 Words, Plus One Adverb)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dothralat | doh-thrah-LAHT | To ride | The root of "Dothraki" itself — "those who ride" |
| Anna dothrak | AN-nah DOTH-rak | I ride | Conjugated first-person form |
| Fonaslat | foh-nas-LAHT | To hunt | Root of the farewell fonas chek |
| Charoklat | chah-rok-LAHT | To hear/listen | See Dothraki body vocabulary |
| Tihat | tee-HAHT | To see | Shares a root with tih and shieraki |
| Lekhat | leh-KHAHT | To speak / to taste | The tongue does both — one verb covers both senses |
| Vichitherat | vee-chee-theh-RAHT | To translate | Useful for language-learning conversations |
| Vosecchi | voh-SECH-ee | Not at all / absolutely not (adverb, not a verb) | Intensified negation, from vos (no/not); common in dismissive or insulting phrases |
Colors & Descriptors (6 Words)
| Dothraki | Pronunciation | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiiyi | chee-EE-yee | Red (community/extended vocabulary) | Documented in the expanded dothraki.org color set, less frequent in show dialogue |
| Sekose | seh-KOH-seh | Small | General descriptor for size |
| Anha | AN-hah | I / me | First-person pronoun, appears constantly (tih anha — "my heart") |
| Yer | YEHR | You | Second-person pronoun |
| Vezh | VEZH | Stallion (also root of vezhven, "magnificent") | A stallion is the Dothraki symbol of power and virility |
| Zheana | zheh-AH-nah | Beautiful (community/extended vocabulary) | Used in fan translation for aesthetic praise beyond vezhven |
How to Use These Words
Individual words are a starting point — Dothraki really comes alive in its verb conjugations and set phrases. A few quick patterns:
- Pronoun + verb: Anha dothrak ("I ride") follows subject-verb order; swap anha for yer ("you") to conjugate informally.
- Compliments stack with vezhven: Jal vezh ("magnificent [stallion] hair") is the pattern behind most Dothraki praise — see the idiom list in our Dothraki body vocabulary guide.
- Greetings pair with blessings: M'athchomaroon, hajas ("With respect — be strong") combines a formal hello with a warrior blessing.
For phrases and sentences beyond this list, use the Dothraki translate tool or chat with the AI language tutor for context-aware help.
Dothraki in Pop Culture and Practical Use
Dothraki's popularity outran almost every other constructed language created for television, for one simple reason: Game of Thrones made it the sound of the show's most iconic season. A few places you'll still find it very much alive:
Wedding vows and fandom ceremonies. The khal-and-khaleesi wedding ceremony — with its shared cup of fermented mare's milk and stallion blood, and the qoyali (bloodrider) oath of "blood of my blood" — has become one of the most-referenced scenes for fans planning Game of Thrones-themed weddings. Couples still request Dothras chek readings or qoy qoyi vows for renewal ceremonies. For the full ceremony breakdown, see our Dothraki wedding ceremony guide.
Tabletop and character-building. Horse-nomad warrior archetypes are a staple of D&D and other tabletop systems, and players regularly borrow real Dothraki vocabulary — khal, arakh, khalasar, hrazef — to name characters, clans, and weapons with linguistic grounding instead of generic fantasy-speak.
Tattoos. Dothraki's harsh consonant clusters (kh, zh, q) make short phrases like Hajas (be strong) or Dothras chek (ride well) popular tattoo choices — visually striking and thematically tied to strength and freedom.
Quotes and battle cries. Lines like Khal Drogo's vows and Daenerys's Dothraki-language declarations remain widely quoted. See our Khal Drogo quotes and Dothraki battle cries collections for canon examples in context.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Dothraki words? Dothraki words come from the constructed language David J. Peterson built for HBO's Game of Thrones, expanding a handful of names in George R.R. Martin's novels into a full language of 3,000+ documented words with consistent grammar and a horse-and-warrior-shaped vocabulary.
How do you say hello in Dothraki? The formal greeting is M'athchomaroon (mah-CHOM-ah-roon), literally "with respect." Among equals, Hash yer dothrae chek? — "are you riding well?" — functions like "how are you?"
What does Khaleesi mean in Dothraki? Khaleesi means "queen" or, more precisely, "wife of a khal." The male equivalent title is khal, and both titles are tied to leadership of a khalasar.
What is the Dothraki word for "blood of my blood"? Qoy qoyi — the oath a bloodrider (qoyali) swears to their khal, pledging their life is joined to his. It's one of the most recognizable Dothraki phrases outside the language itself.
How many Dothraki words are there? David J. Peterson has documented over 3,000 Dothraki words, maintained on the dothraki.org wiki and dictionary, and he has continued expanding the language since the show ended — Living Language Dothraki.
Is Dothraki hard to learn? Dothraki's grammar is more regular than English, but the guttural consonants and motion-encoding verb conjugations take practice. Most learners can build a solid 50–100 word vocabulary within a few weeks with structured lessons.
Learn Dothraki with Tengwar
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Further Reading
- Dothraki for Beginners: Learn the Language of the Great Grass Sea
- Dothraki Greetings: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything Between
- Dothraki Greetings — Complete Guide
- Dothraki Body Parts and Anatomy Vocabulary — Complete Guide
- Best App to Learn Dothraki in 2026
- Dothraki Proverbs
- Dothraki Wedding Ceremony Explained
- Khal Drogo Quotes — 50 Best
- Dothraki Battle Cries from Game of Thrones
- Dothraki Horse Vocabulary
Hajas. Be strong — and start riding into the language today.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are Dothraki words?
Dothraki words come from the constructed language David J. Peterson built for HBO's Game of Thrones, expanding a handful of names in George R.R. Martin's novels into a full language of 3,000+ documented words. It has consistent grammar, a horse-and-warrior-shaped vocabulary, and an official published corpus (Living Language Dothraki, the dothraki.org dictionary, and the show's dialogue).
How do you say hello in Dothraki?
The formal greeting is *M'athchomaroon* (mah-CHOM-ah-roon), literally 'with respect.' Among equals, a more casual greeting is *Hash yer dothrae chek?* — 'are you riding well?' — which works like 'how are you?' The standard reply to the formal greeting is *Athchomar chomakea*, 'respect to those who are respectful.'
What does Khaleesi mean in Dothraki?
*Khaleesi* means 'queen' or, more precisely, 'wife of a khal' (a Dothraki warlord/chieftain). The male equivalent title is *khal*. A *khaleesi* who has borne a khal's son may also be called *khal* in her own right after certain rites — the title is tied to leadership of a *khalasar* (a Dothraki riding clan), not strictly to marriage.
What is the Dothraki word for blood of my blood?
'Blood of my blood' is *qoy qoyi* — the oath a bloodrider (*qoyali*) swears to their khal, pledging that their life is joined to his. It is used in the show's wedding and bloodrider-binding scenes and is one of the most recognizable Dothraki phrases outside the language itself.
How many Dothraki words are there?
David J. Peterson has documented over 3,000 Dothraki words, maintained on the dothraki.org wiki and dictionary. It's smaller than his later languages but large enough to support real, structured conversation — Peterson has continued expanding it since the show ended.
Is Dothraki hard to learn?
Dothraki's grammar is more regular than English, but the guttural consonants (kh, zh, q) and verb conjugations for motion and direction take practice. Most learners find building a 50–100 word vocabulary achievable within a few weeks, especially with structured lessons rather than word lists alone.
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