Dothraki Words for Strength and Honor — Haj, Qemmolat & More

Quick Answer: The Dothraki word for strong/powerful is haj, documented in David J. Peterson's Living Language Dothraki. Brave is qemmolat or savvenikh. Dothraki has no single abstract noun for "honor" — instead, athchomar (respect) does that cultural work, most visibly in the formal phrase athchomar chomakea, "respect to those who are respectful."

Dothraki was built by David J. Peterson for a culture that measures worth through riding, raiding, and loyalty rather than written codes of conduct — and its vocabulary for strength, bravery, and honor reflects that directly. There is no Dothraki equivalent of a knight's oath. There is haj (strong), qemmolat and savvenikh (brave), and — doing the cultural work English asks of "honor" — athchomar, respect. Here is the complete, canon-only guide.

TL;DR / Quick Answer: Strength is haj (and the closely related zhokwa, powerful/great). Bravery is qemmolat or savvenikh — Yer affin savvenikh means "you will be brave." Respect, the closest Dothraki equivalent of honor, is athchomar, most visible in the formal greeting Athchomar chomakea. Every word below is attested in David J. Peterson's published Dothraki corpus, cross-checked against Tengwar's own Dothraki vocabulary database.

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Strength: Haj and Zhokwa

Haj — Strong

Haj is the core Dothraki word for strength, documented as an adjective in Living Language Dothraki. It describes physical power directly — a strong warrior, a strong horse, a strong grip.

Notably, haj also appears baked into place names: Krazaaj haj — a great hill or mountain — uses the same root to mean "great" in a landscape sense, showing how thoroughly the concept of raw power threads through Dothraki vocabulary beyond just people.

Zhokwa — Powerful, Great

Zhokwa is Dothraki's other major strength-adjective, and it is even more common in attested usage: strong/powerful (of a body), great/powerful (as a general descriptor), and even "great, big" in its extended form zhokwao. It shows up in the canonical example hrazef zhokwa — "powerful horse" — the single highest compliment you can pay an animal in Dothraki culture, where a rider's worth and his horse's worth are treated as inseparable.

Dothraki adjectives typically follow the noun they modify, so "a strong warrior" would read lajak zhokwa or lajak haj — noun first, strength-word second.

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Honor: Why Dothraki Doesn't Have One Word For It

Unlike Klingon, which has two distinct dictionary words for honor (batlh for conduct, quv for standing), Dothraki has no single abstract noun that maps directly onto the English concept. This is not a gap in Peterson's design — it reflects Martin's Dothraki culture, where standing is earned through action (riding, raiding, siring sons, killing) rather than declared through an abstract virtue-word.

The vocabulary that does the cultural work of "honor" in Dothraki is athchomar — respect.

Athchomar Chomakea — Respect to the Respected

Athchomar chomakea is the formal Dothraki phrase, pronounced ATH-cho-mar cho-MA-keh-a. It parses as athchomar (respect, nominative) + chomakea (the-respected, dative) — literally "respect to one who is respected." It is the reply to the standard greeting M'athchomaroon (itself built from the same root: "with respect"), and it is the phrase used to address khals, khaleesis, and elders.

The logic embedded in the grammar is telling: respect in Dothraki culture is not bestowed unconditionally, and it is not permanent. It flows specifically to those who have already earned the standing to receive it — a closed loop of reciprocal regard rather than an abstract moral code you either have or lack.

Chomok — Respect / Honor (Noun)

A related noun, chomok, is glossed directly as "respect / honor" — the closest single-word Dothraki equivalent of the English abstract noun, though it is far less frequently attested in canon dialogue than the athchomar family of phrases.

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Bravery and Courage: Qemmolat, Savvenikh, and Their Opposite

Qemmolat and Savvenikh — Brave

Dothraki has two attested adjectives for bravery: qemmolat and savvenikh. Both describe courage as a trait a person has or is told to summon.

The canonical encouragement phrase Yer affin savvenikh — "you will be brave" — uses savvenikh directly, addressed to someone facing a dangerous task, a duel, or a journey. It functions the way "be strong" or "stay brave" functions in English: a blessing said to someone before hardship, not a compliment paid after the fact.

Coholat and Coho — Fear

The opposing emotional register: coholat, to fear (verb), and coho, fear (noun). Dothraki culture treats fear itself as a normal, nameable emotion — the failure is not feeling fear, but letting it control your actions.

Firikhnhak — Coward

The sharpest word in this cluster is the insult Yer ho firikhnhak — "you are a coward" — one of the few directly attested Dothraki insults in the show's own dialogue. Calling a Dothraki a coward attacks the single most important quality a rider can have. For the fuller picture of how Dothraki insults work, see our guide to Dothraki insults and curses.

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The Warrior's Core Vocabulary

Dothraki	Pronunciation guide	Meaning
haj	hahzh	strong, powerful
zhokwa	ZHOK-wah	strong, powerful; great
qemmolat	kem-MOH-laht	brave
savvenikh	sah-VEH-nikh	brave, courageous
athchomar	ath-CHO-mar	respect
athchomar chomakea	ATH-cho-mar cho-MA-keh-a	respect to those who are respectful
chomok	CHOH-mok	respect / honor (noun)
coholat	koh-HOH-laht	to fear
coho	KOH-ho	fear (noun)
firikhnhak	fi-RIKH-nhak	coward
lajak	LAH-jahk	warrior
khal	khahl	king / warlord
ko	koh	bloodrider
khalasar	khah-lah-SAR	the riding clan following a khal
arakh	AH-rakh	curved Dothraki sword
qoy qoyi	koy KOY-ee	blood of my blood
dothrae chek	DOTH-rye chek	ride well

Every entry above is drawn from Peterson's published vocabulary and the show's own dialogue — the same corpus that powers Tengwar's Dothraki dictionary of common words.

A Note on Qoy Qoyi

Qoy qoyi — "blood of my blood" — is not a strength or honor word by strict definition. It is the oath a bloodrider (ko) swears to his khal, pledging his life is joined to his leader's. But it sits at the intersection of everything this guide covers: a bloodrider's worth is entirely a function of how completely he keeps that oath, even to death. Strength without loyalty means nothing in the khalasar; loyalty is where Dothraki honor actually lives, even without a dedicated word for it.

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Short Phrases Built from This Vocabulary

Five compact, canon-grounded phrases using attested words:

1. Yer affin savvenikh — "You will be brave." (Encouragement before a hard task.)
2. Athchomar chomakea — "Respect to those who are respectful." (Formal greeting reply.)
3. Hrazef zhokwa — "A powerful horse." (The highest compliment for an animal, and by extension its rider.)
4. Yer ho firikhnhak — "You are a coward." (An insult, not a compliment — included for contrast.)
5. Qoy qoyi — "Blood of my blood." (The bloodrider's oath of total loyalty.)

For the full ceremonial register these phrases belong to — vows, blessings, and wedding vocabulary — see our guide to Dothraki wedding blessings and ceremonial phrases.

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People Also Ask

Is there a single Dothraki word that means "honor" the way English uses it? No — Dothraki has no dedicated abstract noun equivalent to the English "honor." Athchomar (respect) and chomok (respect/honor) do the closest cultural work, but Dothraki generally expresses standing through action and reciprocal respect rather than a single virtue-word.

What do you call a Dothraki warrior? Lajak is the general word for warrior. A bloodrider — a warrior sworn to die if his khal dies — is a ko. The leader of an entire riding clan (khalasar) is a khal.

How do you wish someone strength or courage in Dothraki? The attested phrase is Yer affin savvenikh — "you will be brave" — used as an encouragement before a duel, a raid, or any dangerous undertaking. There is no separate attested phrase specifically for wishing physical strength, though haj or zhokwa could be applied descriptively.

Is "khaleesi" related to strength or honor vocabulary? Not directly — khaleesi (queen; wife of a khal) is a title, not a strength or virtue word. But a khaleesi's standing in the khalasar is judged by the same respect-based logic as everyone else's, governed by athchomar.

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Related Reading

• 50 Essential Dothraki Words — Vocabulary Guide
• Dothraki Dictionary: Common Words & Phrases by Category
• Dothraki Insults and Curses: The Complete Guide
• Dothraki Wedding Blessings and Ceremonial Phrases
• Famous Dothraki Sayings and What They Reveal About the Culture

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