Na'vi Dictionary — Common Words & Phrases by Category

Quick Answer: Na'vi (created by linguist Paul Frommer for Avatar) has roughly 2,000+ attested words, organized here by theme — greetings and feeling, nature and Eywa, people and clan, body and action — rather than alphabetically, so you can see how the vocabulary reflects the Na'vi's ecological worldview. Every word is sourced from the films or Frommer's own published vocabulary at naviteri.org. If you want a shorter flat list of the essential phrases instead, see Na'vi words and phrases.

Unlike a natural language, Na'vi doesn't have centuries of borrowed vocabulary or a historical dictionary tradition. Every single word traces back to one linguist, Dr. Paul Frommer, who built the language for James Cameron's Avatar (2009) and has continued expanding it with each subsequent film, including Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and the upcoming Avatar 3. Frommer publishes new vocabulary and grammar clarifications directly at his blog, naviteri.org, and the fan community at learnnavi.org maintains the most comprehensive searchable compilation of his work.

That means Na'vi's vocabulary — around 2,000+ attested words — is smaller than a natural language's, but unusually coherent: it clusters heavily around the Na'vi's ecological and spiritual relationship with Pandora. This is the thematic reference, grouping words by category so you can see how the language encodes that worldview, rather than a flat alphabetical list.

If you want the shorter "essential phrases" version instead, see Na'vi words and phrases. For background on whether learning Na'vi seriously is worth your time, read our full evaluation of Na'vi as a language.

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How to read this dictionary

Each entry is formatted:

English — Na'vi (pronunciation) — usage note

Na'vi is written in standard Latin transcription. The apostrophe (') marks a real consonant — a glottal stop — not a stylistic flourish. Digraphs px, tx, and kx represent ejective consonants: sharp stops made with a simultaneous glottal closure, unlike anything in English. See the pronunciation section in our Na'vi words and phrases guide for more on these sounds.

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Greetings and feeling vocabulary

Hello — kaltxi (kahl-TXEE) — the all-purpose greeting

I see you (deep/spiritual perception) — oel ngati kameie (oh-EL ngah-TEE kah-may-EE-eh) — the iconic Na'vi greeting; kame implies fully perceiving another's inner being, not mere sight

Thank you — irayo (ee-RAH-yoh) — one of the most frequently spoken words in the films

I am with you — oe ngahu (oh-EH ngah-HOO) — a phrase of solidarity or comfort

May Eywa be with you — eywa ngahu (AY-wah ngah-HOO) — a farewell or blessing invoking Eywa

Are you at peace? / Are you well? — ngaru lu fpom srak (ngah-ROO loo FPOHM srahk) — a polite wellbeing check; srak marks it as a yes/no question

Good, fine — siltsan (sil-TSAHN) — a flexible positive evaluative word

I love you — nga yawne lu oer (ngah YAOW-neh loo oh-ER) — literally "you are beloved to me"; feeling is expressed as something that happens to the experiencer, not an action performed by a subject

Peace — fpom (FPOHM) — general wellbeing or tranquility

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Nature and Eywa vocabulary

This is Na'vi's richest semantic field — reflecting the Na'vi's constant, structural relationship to Pandora's biosphere.

Eywa — Eywa (AY-wah) — the all-encompassing life-force/neural network connecting every living thing on Pandora; both deity and literal ecological system in the story

Neural bond / the bond — tsahaylu (tsah-hai-LOO) — the direct neural connection Na'vi form with animals and the Tree of Souls via their queue; a concept without a clean English equivalent

Forest — na'rìng (nah-RING)

Tree of Souls — Vitraya Ramunong (vee-TRAI-ah rah-moo-NONG) — the sacred site where Na'vi commune most directly with Eywa

The great predator / Toruk — toruk (TOH-rook) — the leonopteran "last shadow," the flying predator Jake Sully tames, becoming Toruk Makto, "rider of last shadow" — one of the most sacred titles in Na'vi culture

Banshee / mountain flyer — ikran (eek-RAHN) — the flying creature Na'vi warriors bond with and ride

Direhorse — pa'li (pah-LEE) — the six-legged riding animal used for ground travel

Home tree — Kelutral (keh-loo-TRAHL) — the great tree that serves as the Omaticaya clan's home

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People, clan, and family vocabulary

The people (Na'vi) — Na'vi (nah-VEE) — the term the Na'vi use for themselves; source of the language's name

Clan — sìp'ang — clan or extended community group

Elder / matriarch — tsahìk (tsah-HEEK) — the spiritual leader of a Na'vi clan, typically the mate of the olo'eyktan (clan leader); a role held by Neytiri's mother Mo'at in the first film

Clan leader — olo'eyktan (OH-loh-ayk-TAHN) — the political/military leader of a clan

Friend — tsmukan (male) / tsmuke (female) — literally close to "sibling," reflecting how clan bonds function like family bonds

Mother — sa'nok (sah-NOHK)

Father — sempul (sem-POOL)

Rider of last shadow — Toruk Makto (TOH-rook mahk-TOH) — the sacred title earned by bonding with and riding a toruk; held by Jake Sully in the first film

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Body, action, and everyday vocabulary

To see (ordinary) — tse'a (tseh-AH) — plain visual perception, distinct from kame (deep perception)

To see (deeply/spiritually) — kame (kah-MEH) — the verb behind "oel ngati kameie"

To hunt — taron (tah-ROHN)

To kill — tspang (tspahng)

Idiot / moron — skxawng (SKUH-shawng, with an ejective kx) — famously used to describe Jake Sully early in the first film; become a widely quoted word among fans precisely for its comic-affectionate bite

Queue (the braid used for tsahaylu) — tswin (tsween) — the neural braid Na'vi use to bond with animals and Eywa

Warrior — taronyu (tah-rohn-YOO) — literally "hunter," reflecting how Na'vi culture doesn't sharply separate the roles of hunter and warrior the way some cultures do

First night — txon awvea (TXOHN ahv-VEH-ah) — a poetic time expression; txon means "night," awvea means "first"

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Caveats and best practices

1. Na'vi is a single-author conlang, still actively growing. Unlike Elvish (Tolkien, now closed to new canon) or Klingon (Okrand, largely settled), Paul Frommer continues to release new vocabulary with each Avatar film — meaning this dictionary reflects the corpus as of Avatar: The Way of Water and will keep expanding.
2. Distinguish canon from fan extension. The community at learnnavi.org is careful to separate Frommer's confirmed vocabulary from fan-coined terms for modern concepts. Every word above is confirmed canon — attested on-screen or published by Frommer directly.
3. The apostrophe is a real sound. Don't drop it when typing Na'vi words — Na'vi, kaltxi's neighbor sounds, and many other words depend on the glottal stop being pronounced, not silent.
4. Ejectives take practice. Px, tx, and kx are the hardest part of Na'vi pronunciation for most English speakers — budget real time for them if you want to say these words convincingly.

For the shorter, flatter phrase-list version of this same vocabulary, see the companion piece: Na'vi words and phrases.

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People Also Ask

How many words are in the Na'vi dictionary? Na'vi has approximately 2,000+ attested words as of 2026, created by linguist Paul Frommer for James Cameron's Avatar franchise. New vocabulary continues to be released with each film. This is comparable in scope to High Valyrian and smaller than Klingon (~3,000 words) or Tolkien's Elvish languages (~20,000+ roots).

Is there an official Na'vi dictionary? There is no single published print dictionary in the way Marc Okrand's "The Klingon Dictionary" exists as a physical book. Instead, Na'vi vocabulary is released and tracked by creator Paul Frommer at his blog naviteri.org, and compiled into a comprehensive searchable dictionary by the community at learnnavi.org, which is considered the most authoritative fan-maintained reference.

What is the Na'vi word for Eywa? "Eywa" is itself the Na'vi word — it names the all-encompassing life-force and neural network that connects every living thing on Pandora in the Avatar films. It functions as both a deity and a literal biological/ecological system within the story.

Where does Na'vi vocabulary come from? Every word in this dictionary is sourced from on-screen dialogue in Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), or from Paul Frommer's official vocabulary releases at naviteri.org, cross-checked against the community dictionary at learnnavi.org. Fan-coined extensions not confirmed by Frommer are explicitly excluded here.

Related Reading

• Na'vi Words and Phrases — the flat quick-start companion to this dictionary
• Is Na'vi Worth Learning? The Avatar Language Evaluated — grammar, difficulty, and community assessed
• Klingon Dictionary — Common Words — the same thematic format for Klingon
• Best Fictional Languages to Learn — full ranking of every major conlang
• Elvish vs Klingon vs Dothraki — side-by-side comparison of languages we actually teach

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Tengwar is a multi-language learning platform for Elvish, Klingon, and Dothraki — not Na'vi. If the Na'vi worldview of ecological and spiritual connection resonates with you, Tolkien's Elvish carries a similar depth, with a much larger learning community and vocabulary. Start for free.