The Klingon Language: A Complete Guide to tlhIngan Hol
Quick Answer: Klingon (tlhIngan Hol, "Klingon language") is a constructed language designed by linguist Marc Okrand in 1984 for Star Trek III and published in The Klingon Dictionary (1985). It has unusual sounds such as a throat-deep Q and the lateral tlh, an object-verb-subject word order, and a grammar built from stacked prefixes and suffixes. It is written in Latin letters with fixed values, or in the pIqaD script. Truly fluent speakers number roughly 30 to 50, with many thousands of learners worldwide.
Klingon is the most famous invented language in the world outside of Tolkien's Elvish. It started life as a handful of harsh syllables in a science fiction film and grew into a language with a dictionary, a grammar, a translated Hamlet, a language institute and a mass-market language course. This guide is the overview: what Klingon is, where it came from, how it works, who speaks it and where to go next. Each section links to a deeper article when you want more.
If you want to start learning right away instead, jump to How to Learn Klingon: The Complete 2026 Guide for Beginners. For a beginner-level tour of vocabulary and first sentences, see Klingon Language Basics: Grammar, Vocabulary & Culture.
What Is the Klingon Language?
Klingon is the language of the Klingons, the warrior species of the Star Trek universe. In-universe it is the tongue of the Klingon Empire and its homeworld Qo'noS (Kronos). Out of universe it is a constructed language, designed on purpose by one person rather than evolving among speakers.
What separates Klingon from most fictional languages is completeness. Many film languages are a few dozen words dubbed over a scene. Klingon has a fixed sound system, a documented grammar and a vocabulary of thousands of words, enough that people have written poetry, translated literature and held whole conversations in it. That is why linguists treat it seriously, and why the question "is Klingon real?" has a more interesting answer than you might expect. We take that question on directly in Is Klingon a Real Language? Yes — Here's What That Means.
The Klingon name for the language is tlhIngan Hol:
| Klingon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tlhIngan | Klingon (the people) |
| Hol | language |
| tlhIngan Hol | Klingon language |
A Short History of Klingon
"nuqneH" — want to actually speak Klingon?
Try It Free →Before Okrand
Klingons first appeared in the original Star Trek series in the 1960s, but they spoke English on screen. The first Klingon-sounding dialogue came in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), where a few lines were improvised from sounds rather than designed as a language.
Marc Okrand and Star Trek III
For Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Paramount wanted Klingon dialogue that held together. The job went to Marc Okrand, a linguist who had worked on Native American languages and on subtitling. In 1984 he designed a language that kept the sounds already heard on screen and built a grammar around them. He deliberately chose features that are rare among human languages, so that Klingon would feel alien to an English-speaking audience while still being learnable.
Okrand's story is told in full in Marc Okrand: How One Linguist Created the Klingon Language.
The Klingon Dictionary and later books
In 1985 Okrand published The Klingon Dictionary (often abbreviated TKD), with a grammar section and a two-way word list. It was expanded in a second edition in 1992. Two further books filled out the language and the culture:
- The Klingon Way (1996), a collection of Klingon sayings and proverbs.
- Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (1997), with new vocabulary, slang and regional variation.
Okrand continued to release new words over the years through Klingon Language Institute publications and events, which is why the vocabulary keeps growing long after the films.
Klingon on screen since
Klingon has appeared across the films and the later series, from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine to Discovery, Picard and Strange New Worlds. The amount and accuracy of on-screen Klingon has varied a great deal between productions. See Klingon Language in Star Trek: From TOS to Discovery for the timeline.
How Klingon Sounds
Klingon is famous for sounding harsh, and that is by design. Okrand combined sounds that rarely occur together in human languages and left out some that English speakers take for granted.
The writing system uses Latin letters, but capitalization matters because uppercase and lowercase letters can stand for different sounds. A few of the most distinctive:
| Letter | Sound |
|---|---|
| Q | a q made at the very back of the throat, followed by a rasp of friction |
| q | a plain q, also far back in the mouth, without the rasp |
| tlh | a t released sideways with air flowing past the sides of the tongue |
| H | a rough sound like the ch in Scottish "loch" |
| gh | a voiced version of that throat sound, a gargle |
| ' | a glottal stop, the catch in the middle of "uh-oh" |
| D | a d made with the tongue curled back |
| I | a short vowel as in "bit" |
The apostrophe is a full consonant, not decoration, which is why Qapla' ends in a sharp catch and wa' (one) and cha' (two) both end in one.
Every sound, with practice tips, is covered in Klingon Phonology Deep Dive — Every Sound, Every Rule.
Word Order: Object, Verb, Subject
The single most surprising feature of Klingon grammar for English speakers is its basic word order: object, verb, subject. English says "the officer sees the child"; Klingon says, in effect, "the child sees the officer", and means the opposite of what an English reader expects.
The classic example from The Klingon Dictionary:
| Klingon | Role | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| puq | object | child |
| legh | verb | see |
| yaS | subject | officer |
| puq legh yaS | The officer sees the child. |
Very few human languages use this order as their default, which is precisely why Okrand chose it. Once you know the rule, Klingon sentences become predictable: whatever comes right before the verb is being acted on, whatever comes after is doing the acting.
Grammar Overview
Klingon packs a great deal of meaning into single words. Instead of separate words for "not", "I", "you" or "plural", it uses prefixes and suffixes attached to nouns and verbs.
Verbs: prefixes for who does what
A prefix on the verb shows both the subject and the object. You can often drop separate pronouns entirely, because the prefix already carries the information.
A clear example is the phrase jIyajbe', "I don't understand":
| Part | Meaning |
|---|---|
| jI- | I (no object) |
| yaj | understand |
| -be' | not |
Three meaningful pieces, one word. Our Klingon language basics post walks through the main prefixes.
Verbs: suffixes in a fixed order
Verb suffixes come in numbered groups and must appear in a fixed order. Some examples documented in canon:
| Suffix | Meaning |
|---|---|
| -be' | not |
| -qu' | emphatic |
| -pu' | perfective (completed action) |
Nouns: suffixes for plural and more
Nouns also take suffixes, and the plural depends on what kind of thing the noun is:
| Suffix | Used for |
|---|---|
| -pu' | beings capable of using language |
| -Du' | body parts |
| -mey | everything else (general plural) |
Klingon also has no verb "to be" in the English sense; sentences like "I am a Klingon" use a pronoun as the verb. The battle cry tlhIngan maH, "We are Klingons!", shows this: tlhIngan (Klingon) followed by maH (we).
For a sense of how difficult all this is to learn, see How Hard Is It to Learn Klingon? An Honest Assessment.
Vocabulary: Words Shaped by a Warrior Culture
Klingon vocabulary reflects the culture Okrand and the writers imagined. It is rich in words about battle, honor and ships, and famously spare in small talk. There is no word for "hello"; the standard greeting nuqneH means "What do you want?"
A few core words:
| Klingon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Qapla' | success |
| nuqneH | what do you want? (greeting) |
| HIja' | yes |
| ghobe' | no |
| majQa' | well done |
| batlh | honor; with honor |
| SuvwI' | warrior |
| jagh | enemy |
| Duj | ship, vessel |
| Hegh | die; death |
| Qo'noS | Kronos, the Klingon homeworld |
Several phrases have become famous on their own, including Qapla' ("Success!") and Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam ("Today is a good day to die"). Each has its own deep dive:
- Qapla'! The Meaning Behind Klingon's Most Famous Word
- nuqneH: What It Means and How to Use It
- Today Is a Good Day to Die in Klingon: Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam
- petaQ Meaning: The Klingon Insult Explained
Numbers work cleanly too: wa' is one, cha' is two, wej is three. See Klingon Numbers: How to Count in tlhIngan Hol.
Proverbs, Slang and Registers
Okrand's later books showed that Klingon is not one flat code but a language with registers, the way any human language has formal speech, everyday speech and slang.
Proverbs. The Klingon Way collects sayings that capture the culture's values. Two well-known examples from it:
| Klingon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay' | Revenge is a dish best served cold. |
| Hoch 'ebmey tIjon | Capture all opportunities. |
The first is a deliberate joke on the line Khan quotes in Star Trek II, presented as a Klingon proverb. More are explained in Famous Klingon Proverbs and Their Meaning.
Slang and regional speech. Klingon for the Galactic Traveler added words marked as slang and described how Klingons from different regions speak. One example in our database is bachHa', literally built on bach ("shoot") with a suffix that reverses it, used as slang for "make a mistake". These details matter because they make Klingon feel like something people actually speak, with shortcuts and humor, rather than a list of battle commands.
Formal service language. At the other end, phrases like chay' jura' ("How can I serve you?") show a polite, service register, the kind of thing a waiter or a host would say.
For everyday phrases you can actually use, start with Essential Klingon Phrases and Greetings. For figurative language, see Klingon Idioms and Slang — Warrior Sayings Beyond the Proverbs.
Why Okrand Made Klingon Hard on Purpose
It is worth pausing on design intent, because it explains almost everything above. Okrand has described aiming for a language that would sound alien and break the expectations of English speakers. That is why Klingon has object-verb-subject order, why it has sounds such as tlh and Q that few languages combine, and why everyday courtesies like "hello" are missing. Each odd feature on its own exists somewhere among human languages; it is the combination that is unusual.
This is also why Klingon rewards learners who enjoy puzzles. Once the rules click, the language is extremely regular: suffixes always appear in the same order, spelling always matches sound, and there are very few exceptions to memorize.
pIqaD: The Klingon Script
Klingon has a native script called pIqaD, the word our dictionary source glosses simply as "Klingon writing system". The angular letters seen on Klingon ships and consoles became associated with the language, and a standard letter-to-sound mapping is widely used by fans.
In practice, most Klingon is written in the Latin transcription, because that is how Okrand's books present it and because pIqaD support on computers is limited. Many fans learn pIqaD for tattoos, props and calligraphy once they know the Latin spelling. We separate what is canon from what is a prop in pIqaD Explained: The Klingon Writing System, Canon vs. Prop.
How Many People Speak Klingon?
This is one of the most asked questions about Klingon, and it is easy to exaggerate. The realistic picture:
- Fluent speakers: roughly 30 to 50 people worldwide who can converse comfortably in Klingon.
- Serious learners: a larger community who read and write it with a dictionary at hand.
- Casual learners: many thousands who know a handful of words or have tried a course.
There is no country or town where Klingon is the everyday language, and no reliable census. Claims of thousands of fluent speakers are not credible. For how Klingon compares with Elvish and Dothraki on this measure, see How Many People Speak Klingon, Dothraki, and Elvish?.
The Klingon Language Institute
The Klingon Language Institute (KLI), founded in 1992, became the center of the Klingon-speaking community. It published a journal and newsletters, ran a certification program for learners, and hosted an annual gathering where Marc Okrand often revealed new vocabulary. Much of what is known about Klingon beyond the three books came through KLI channels.
Klingon Hamlet and Other Translations
The most famous Klingon translation is Hamlet. A line in Star Trek VI jokes that Shakespeare is best read "in the original Klingon," and fans took the joke literally: the KLI published a full Klingon Hamlet in 1996, with the Klingon text facing the English. Other works followed, including Much Ado About Nothing and the Tao Te Ching. The story is told in "In the Original Klingon": The Klingon Hamlet Explained.
Klingon on Duolingo
In 2018 Duolingo launched a Klingon course, which brought the language to a far larger audience than the books ever reached. Updates to the course were paused in 2022, and it now survives as a legacy course: still usable in many cases, but not being developed. We look at what the course covers and what to use alongside it in Is There a Duolingo for Klingon? (And Better Alternatives).
Klingon vs Other Fictional Languages
Klingon is often compared with Tolkien's Elvish and with the languages of Game of Thrones. The key difference is purpose. Tolkien built Elvish as an art project with a long invented history; Okrand built Klingon to be heard in films and to sound alien. Dothraki and High Valyrian, created by David J. Peterson, follow a similar film-driven model to Klingon but with naturalistic grammar.
For side-by-side comparisons, see Klingon vs Elvish and What Is Dothraki? The Language of the Horse Lords, Explained.
Where to Learn Klingon
You have more options than ever:
- The books. The Klingon Dictionary remains the foundation. Klingon for the Galactic Traveler and The Klingon Way add vocabulary and culture.
- Structured lessons. Our Learn Klingon course teaches attested vocabulary and grammar in short lessons with spaced repetition, and the first lessons are free.
- A translator for checking. Our translator works from attested Klingon vocabulary, so it is useful for checking your own sentences. See English to Klingon Translator: An Honest Review of Every Option in 2026.
- A step-by-step plan. How to Learn Klingon: The Complete 2026 Guide for Beginners lays out a route from first words to reading.
The Klingon Hub: Every Guide in One Place
Start here
- Klingon Language Basics: Grammar, Vocabulary & Culture
- How to Learn Klingon: The Complete 2026 Guide for Beginners
- How Hard Is It to Learn Klingon? An Honest Assessment
- Is Klingon a Real Language? Yes — Here's What That Means
Sounds and writing
- Klingon Phonology Deep Dive — Every Sound, Every Rule
- pIqaD Explained: The Klingon Writing System, Canon vs. Prop
Words and phrases
- 50 Essential Klingon Words — tlhIngan Hol Vocabulary Guide
- Klingon Dictionary — Common Words & Phrases by Category
- Essential Klingon Phrases and Greetings
- Famous Klingon Proverbs and Their Meaning
- Klingon Insults and Curses: The Complete Guide to petaQ and Beyond
Star Trek and culture
- Marc Okrand: How One Linguist Created the Klingon Language
- Klingon Language in Star Trek: From TOS to Discovery
- 15 Famous Klingon Quotes from Star Trek (With Translations)
- Worf's Klingon Quotes: Honor, Battle, and Heartbreak in TNG and DS9
- "In the Original Klingon": The Klingon Hamlet Explained
People Also Ask
What is the Klingon language? Klingon, called tlhIngan Hol, is a constructed language created by Marc Okrand for the Star Trek films. It has its own sound system, a grammar built on prefixes and suffixes, and object-verb-subject word order. Okrand published The Klingon Dictionary in 1985.
Who created the Klingon language? Marc Okrand designed Klingon in 1984 for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, building on a few Klingon-sounding words heard earlier, and documented it in The Klingon Dictionary (1985).
How many people speak Klingon? Only a few dozen people speak it fluently, commonly estimated at 30 to 50. Many thousands more know some words or have studied it.
What does tlhIngan Hol mean? It means "Klingon language": tlhIngan is Klingon and Hol is language.
Related Reading
- Klingon Language Basics: Grammar, Vocabulary & Culture
- How to Learn Klingon: The Complete 2026 Guide for Beginners
- Marc Okrand: How One Linguist Created the Klingon Language
- Klingon Phonology Deep Dive — Every Sound, Every Rule
- pIqaD Explained: The Klingon Writing System, Canon vs. Prop
- Is There a Duolingo for Klingon? (And Better Alternatives)
- The High Valyrian Language: A Complete Guide
People Also Ask
What is the Klingon language?
Klingon, called tlhIngan Hol by its speakers, is a constructed language created by linguist Marc Okrand for the Star Trek films. It has its own sound system, a grammar built on prefixes and suffixes, and an object-verb-subject word order. Okrand published The Klingon Dictionary in 1985, and the language has been learned and spoken by fans ever since.
Who created the Klingon language?
Marc Okrand designed Klingon in 1984 for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. A few Klingon-sounding words had been heard earlier, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Okrand turned the idea into a full language with grammar and vocabulary, then documented it in The Klingon Dictionary (1985) and later books.
Is Klingon a real language?
Klingon is a real, usable language in the linguistic sense: it has a consistent grammar, thousands of words, and people who can hold conversations in it. It is not anyone's native language as a community language, and the number of truly fluent speakers is small, estimated at roughly 30 to 50 people.
How many people speak Klingon?
Only a few dozen people speak Klingon fluently, commonly estimated at 30 to 50. Many thousands more know some words or have studied it through books, the Klingon Language Institute or the Duolingo course, which has been a legacy course since updates were paused in 2022.
What does tlhIngan Hol mean?
tlhIngan Hol means "Klingon language". tlhIngan means Klingon and Hol means language. Klingon puts the possessor first, so the phrase reads literally as "Klingon language".
What is the word order of Klingon?
Klingon uses object-verb-subject order, the reverse of English subject-verb-object. In puq legh yaS, "the officer sees the child", puq is the child (object), legh is "see", and yaS is the officer (subject).
