Arcane Lexicon · D&D 5e
Every language in the 2014 and 2024 rules, with its group, script and speakers, and a free translator for each.
D&D 5e has 19 languages in the 2024 rules: 10 Standard and 9 Rare. The 2014 rules list 16 in two tables, Standard and Exotic, and treat secret languages such as Druidic and Thieves' Cant as extras. The table below puts both editions side by side. Click a translator link to turn Common into that language, or see how the translators work further down.
The groups and scripts come from the 2014 rules table and the 2024 Basic Rules tables. A dash means the rules give nothing for that cell. The 2014 table names a script for most languages. The 2024 tables list where a language comes from instead, so the script column follows the 2014 table, and a speaker marked 2024 origin comes from the newer table.
| Language | 2014 group | 2024 group | Script (2014 table) | Typical speakers | Translator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Standard | Standard | Common | Humans | Main translator |
| Common Sign Language | — | Standard | — | Sigil (2024 origin) | — |
| Draconic | Exotic | Standard | Draconic | Dragons, dragonborn | Draconic translator Dragonborn names |
| Dwarvish | Standard | Standard | Dwarvish | Dwarves | Dwarvish translator Dwarf names |
| Elvish | Standard | Standard | Elvish | Elves | Elvish translator Elf names |
| Giant | Standard | Standard | Dwarvish | Ogres, giants | Giant translator |
| Gnomish | Standard | Standard | Dwarvish | Gnomes | Gnomish translator |
| Goblin | Standard | Standard | Dwarvish | Goblinoids | Goblin translator |
| Halfling | Standard | Standard | Common | Halflings | Halfling translator |
| Orc | Standard | Standard | Dwarvish | Orcs | Orc translator |
| Abyssal | Exotic | Rare | Infernal | Demons | Abyssal translator |
| Celestial | Exotic | Rare | Celestial | Celestials | Celestial translator |
| Deep Speech | Exotic | Rare | — | Aboleths, cloakers | Deep Speech translator |
| Druidic | Secret | Rare | — | Druids | Druidic translator |
| Infernal | Exotic | Rare | Infernal | Devils | Infernal translator Tiefling names |
| Primordial | Exotic | Rare | Dwarvish | Elementals | Primordial translator |
| Sylvan | Exotic | Rare | Elvish | Fey creatures | Sylvan translator |
| Thieves' Cant | Secret | Rare | — | Criminal guilds (2024 origin) | Thieves' Cant translator |
| Undercommon | Exotic | Rare | Elvish | Underworld traders | Undercommon translator |
| Drowinvented, not in the rules | — | — | — | Invented for this site | Drow translator |
Common Sign Language has no translator, because a sign language has no written words to swap. Drow is not a language in the rules; see the Drow note below.
The 2024 rules list ten Standard languages: Common, Common Sign Language, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling and Orc. In 2014 there were eight, with Draconic in the Exotic group and no Common Sign Language. These are the languages a typical character picks up from their species, their background or the road, and the ones a DM can drop into a handout without a second thought.
The 2024 rules list nine Rare languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Druidic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, Thieves' Cant and Undercommon. The 2014 rules called their equivalent group Exotic, and it held Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan and Undercommon. These are the tongues of fiends, celestials, aberrations, elementals, the fey and the Underdark. Learning one usually needs a reason in the story, and that is what makes a line of Infernal on a contract feel like a find.
The Primordial entry in the 2024 table has a footnote: it covers four dialects, Aquan, Auran, Ignan and Terran, and creatures who know different dialects can still understand each other.
In the 2014 rules, secret languages sit outside the two tables. The text says that, with your DM's permission, you can choose a secret language such as thieves' cant or the tongue of druids in place of a Standard one. In the 2024 rules both appear in the Rare table, with Druidic coming from druidic circles and Thieves' Cant from criminal guilds. The table above marks both as Secret in 2014 and Rare in 2024, so you can see the move.
If your table plays with older books, nothing breaks. The group only changes how easy a language is to get, and the translators on this site work the same in both editions.
The rules give drow no language of their own, so Drow is not one of the 19 above. This site adds an invented Drow translator as a bonus, colder and harsher than Elvish, for dark elves who should not sound like their surface cousins. Use it for flavor, and keep to Elvish and Undercommon when you want the languages the rules name.
Each translator swaps every English word for a short invented word. The same word always gives the same result, and you can paste a translation back, set it as the source and recover the original text. The words come from no rulebook and no other source: the rules name these languages and, for the most part, give them no vocabulary, so the words here were made for your table. This site is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Fourteen languages have a dedicated page with examples, a word list and answers to common questions. Goblin, Halfling, Orc and Druidic work in the main translator, which opens with the language already chosen when you follow their links in the table. You can also print a translation as a prop with the DnD handout generator.
The DnD name generator builds names from the same invented words, and every name shows its meaning in plain English. There is a page for each of four races: tiefling names (Infernal), dragonborn names (Draconic), dwarf names (Dwarvish) and elf names (Elvish). A name made there decodes in the matching translator.
The 2024 rules list 19 in two tables: 10 Standard and 9 Rare. The 2014 rules list 16 in two tables (8 Standard and 8 Exotic) and add secret languages such as Druidic and Thieves' Cant on top. Common Sign Language is new in 2024. This site adds Drow as an invented bonus, which is not in either rulebook.
Standard languages are the ones most characters can meet in everyday play, such as Common, Elvish and Dwarvish. Rare languages belong to far-off or hidden places and beings, such as demons, celestials, aberrations and the Underdark. The 2014 rules called the second group Exotic, and the 2024 rules call it Rare.
Both, depending on the edition. Draconic is an Exotic language in the 2014 rules and a Standard language in the 2024 rules. It is the one language that moved up a group, which matters when a table mixes old and new character options.
The 2014 rules name it as an example of a secret language that a DM can allow, and the 2024 rules list it in the Rare table with criminal guilds as its origin. Either way it is something a character can know, so this site gives it a translator. The Thieves' Cant page also has a cover-talk mode that hides a message in ordinary Common words.
Not in the rules. The rules give drow no language of their own, and this site adds an invented Drow voice as a bonus for dark elves who should not sound like their surface cousins. It is flagged as invented in the table above, and the Elvish and Undercommon translators are there for tables that want the rules languages only.
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