Elvish Alphabet A to Z: Tengwar Letters Chart for English

Quick Answer: There is no true "Elvish alphabet A to Z". Tengwar writes sounds, and in the English tehtar modes the vowels A, E, I, O, U are small marks (tehtar) over consonants, not letters. The consonants do map: T is tinco, P is parma, D is ando, B is umbar, F is formen, M is malta, N is númen, L is lambe, S is silme, H is hyarmen, and so on. The chart below lists every English letter with its usual tengwa and the caveats for C, K, Q, X, Y and TH.

This page is a lookup chart. If you want the story of where Tengwar came from, how the letter shapes work and what the One Ring inscription says, start with our Tengwar alphabet guide. If you want to know why there are several different "Tengwar alphabets" online, read the Tengwar modes guide. Here we answer one question: what do I write for this English letter?

Read this first: Tengwar is not a cipher

Most "Elvish alphabet" images online pair each Latin letter with one Tengwar symbol. That is a cipher, and it is not how Tolkien used the script. Three facts make a straight A-to-Z swap impossible:

1. Vowels are marks, not letters. In the tehtar modes, a vowel is a small sign over a consonant.
2. Tengwar writes sounds. English spelling has many letters that stand for more than one sound (C, G, S, TH) and sounds spelled with two letters (SH, CH, NG). Tengwar has one sign per sound.
3. Modes differ. The same tengwa can carry a different value in a Quenya mode, a Sindarin mode and an English mode. This chart follows the general English usage described in our modes guide; other charts may assign a few letters differently.

So use the table as a guide to the sound, then write the tengwa for that sound.

The consonant letters at a glance

The 24 primary tengwar sit in four columns (témar) by where the sound is made, and in rows (tyeller) by how it is made. The four column names come from their first letter:

In English usage the third and fourth columns are commonly swapped relative to Quenya: the calma column takes the ch / j / sh sounds and the quesse column takes k / g. That is the convention used in this chart.

English letters A to Z

And the two-letter English sounds that Tengwar writes with a single letter:

Doubled consonants (the tt in Matt, the ll in Bella) are usually shown with a small bar below the letter rather than writing the letter twice.

The vowels: how tehtar work

In the tehtar modes, each vowel is a small mark:

• A — a mark of three dots in a triangle, or a circumflex-like curl in a quicker hand
• E — an acute accent stroke
• I — a single dot
• O — a curl opening one way
• U — a curl opening the other way

(The exact shapes vary between hands and fonts. Our Tengwar calligraphy guide shows them drawn.)

The rule that trips up most beginners is placement. In English usage the tehta sits above the consonant that follows the vowel. In Quenya usage it sits above the consonant that precedes it. Our alphabet guide uses the name Frodo as the worked example: F (formen), R (rómen), D (ando) form the skeleton; the first O goes over rómen, the consonant after it; the final O has nothing after it, so it sits on a short carrier.

Carriers. A vowel with no consonant to sit on, at the start or end of a word or next to another vowel, goes on a carrier sign: a short stem for a short vowel and a long stem for a long one.

Not every mode uses tehtar. The Mode of Beleriand, the mode of the Doors of Durin, writes vowels as full letters. Tolkien's English orthographic writing also used full vowel letters in places. If your chart shows separate vowel letters, it is following one of those, not making a mistake. Pick one system and stay with it.

The tricky letters

C and K

English C has no tengwa of its own. Ask what it sounds like. Cat, Carl, Claire: k sound, quesse. City, Cecily: s sound, silme. K is always quesse. CK is a single k sound, so one quesse.

Q

English Q is almost always followed by U and pronounced kw. Write quesse for the k and vala for the w, or use the w-modifier where the mode allows it. Do not look for a "Q letter"; Tengwar writes the sounds.

X

X is two sounds, k and s. Write quesse with an s added. In many hands the s is a small hook attached to the letter rather than a full silme.

Y

Y does three jobs in English:

• Consonant y, as in yes: a consonant sign. English charts commonly use anna with a y-modifier, or the y-marked carrier; check the mode you follow.
• Vowel y, as in Lily, Mary: it is an i sound, so write the i tehta.
• Diphthong y, as in my, Tyler: write the vowel sound, typically as a combination with the i-glide.

TH

English writes two different sounds with TH. Tengwar keeps them apart:

• thúle for the voiceless th of thin, Thor, Kathleen
• anto for the voiced th of this, the, Heather

A letter-for-letter cipher cannot do this, which is one of the clearest signs that a chart is a cipher rather than real Tengwar.

R

Tengwar has two r letters. Rómen is used for an r before a vowel (Rose, Mary). Óre is used for an r at the end of a word or before a consonant (Peter, Carl), where English speakers often barely pronounce it. Using the right one makes a transcription look correct to experienced readers.

S and Z

Silme is the ordinary s. Esse is used for a z sound, including the z sound of s in words like rose. Both have a turned form, written upside down, which is used when a tehta needs to sit on the letter.

Worked examples

Here is how a few common names break into tengwar, described by letter name.

Sam: S is silme; A is a tehta; M is malta. In English placement the A goes over malta. Result: silme, then malta carrying the a-tehta.

Kate: K is quesse; A over tinco (the T that follows); T is tinco; final silent E is often shown with a dot under the preceding letter in orthographic spelling, or simply omitted in a phonetic spelling.

Thomas: TH here sounds like t, so many writers use tinco; O over malta; M is malta; A over silme; S is silme. A purely orthographic writer may keep thúle for the spelling. This is exactly the kind of choice that makes Tengwar a system and not a cipher.

Ruth: R before a vowel, so rómen; U over thúle; TH is voiceless, thúle.

If you would like these worked out automatically, our Tengwar name generator writes any English name in Tengwar, and Tengwar Scribe lets you draw the result by hand and see if the AI can read it back. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see Write Your Name in Elvish.

Numbers are separate

Tengwar has its own numeral signs, and Tolkien's numerals were written in base 12 as well as base 10, with markings to show which. They are not part of the letter chart. See Tengwar Numerals for years, dates and counting.

Common mistakes with A-to-Z charts

1. Giving each vowel a full letter in a tehtar mode. If you use vowel letters, use a mode that has them, consistently.
2. One letter for C. Always decide hard or soft.
3. One letter for TH. Decide thin or this.
4. Ignoring the two r letters. Rómen before vowels, óre elsewhere.
5. Mixing Quenya and English placement. In English usage the tehta goes over the following consonant.
6. Using a Quenya mode chart for English. A Quenya chart puts k in the calma column; an English chart puts it in quesse. Mixing the two produces a text no one can read.

Why charts disagree

You will find charts online that swap calma and quesse, use vala for v, or give separate vowel letters. Most of them are not wrong; they follow different modes, or different conventions for English, which Tolkien never fixed into one official system. The safest approach is the one our modes guide recommends: match the mode to the language. For English, use an English tehtar mode, write sounds rather than spelling, and keep your choices consistent across the whole text.

People Also Ask

Is there an Elvish alphabet from A to Z? Not as a one-to-one cipher. Tengwar writes sounds, and in the usual English modes vowels are small marks (tehtar) over consonants. A chart can show what each English letter usually becomes, with caveats.

How are vowels written in Tengwar? In the tehtar modes a vowel is a mark above a consonant, in English usage the consonant that follows it. A vowel with nothing to sit on goes on a carrier. Some modes write vowels as full letters.

What Tengwar letter is C? There is none. A hard C uses the k letter (commonly quesse in English usage) and a soft C uses silme.

How do you write TH in Tengwar? Thúle for the voiceless th of thin, anto for the voiced th of this.

Related Reading

• Tengwar Alphabet: Complete Guide to Tolkien's Elvish Writing System
• Tengwar Modes Complete Guide — Beleriand, General Use, Classical
• Write Your Name in Elvish: The Tengwar Name Generator
• Tengwar Calligraphy — How to Hand-Write Elvish Letters Beautifully
• Tengwar Numerals: How to Write Numbers, Years and Dates in Elvish Script
• Tengwar Scribe: Write Elvish Script by Hand (With an AI That Reads It Back)
• Cirth Runes: The Angerthas, Dwarf Runes and Moria Explained