Klingon Pocket Dictionary: Introduction

Introduction

This dictionary consists of a collection of the Klingon words that could be found in the various works of the inventor the language, Dr. Marc Okrand. Since our intention has been to produce a practical pocket reference guide, rather than a complete description of the language, it is assumed that you have at least basic knowledge of the structure and grammar of Klingon. If you do not, we urge you to read MO’s main book on the subject, entitled The Klingon Dictionary (Pocket Books, New York, , ISBN 0-671-74559-X).

The contents of this book was automatically created from a database containing 2531 Klingon words and 3443 English lookup entries. The database was created in late and has since been continuously updated. Should you find any error or omission, or if you would like to know more about Klingonska Akademien and our various projects, please do not hesitate to contact us at the following address:

Klingonska Akademien
Villavägen 33, 2tr
SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
klingonska.org
zrajm@klingonska.org
+46 76-211 50 43

Word Type Abbreviations

This book uses the same scheme of word type abbreviations as TKD, with one addition, the word type “name,” which is used for the names of individuals. Only names mentioned in Okrandian sources are included in the dictionary.

v verb [TKD 4]
n noun [TKD 3]
name name [TKD 5.6]
pro pronoun [TKD 5.1]
adv adverb [TKD 5.4]
num number [TKD 5.2]
excl exclamation [TKD 5.5]
ques question word [TKD 6.4]
conj conjunction [TKD 5.3]

Source Abbreviations

All Klingon words in this dictionary come from verifiable canon sources, but those listed below are the most frequently occurring. However, some sources are mentioned only rarely and are therefore not abbreviated. Most notably, when a word originated from one of MO’s many Usenet postings, the source is given simply as “News,” with the date given in YYYY-MM-DD format. If you want to identify or know more about a source given herein I would recommend that you take a look at the Archive of Okrandian Canon on the Klingonska Akademien website (klingonska.org), additional information can also be found in The Klingon Mailing List FAQ (klingonwiki.net/En/MailingListFAQ).

BoP    Klingon Bird of Prey Poster
CK    Conversational Klingon (language course audio)
HQ    HolQeD (journal of the Klingon Language Institute)
KCD    Star Trek: Klingon! (computer game)
KGT    Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (book)
KLI    The Klingon Language Institute
MO    Marc Okrand (inventor of the language)
MKE    Monopoly: Klingon Edition (board game)
PK    Power Klingon (language course audio)
S#    SkyBox trading card number S#
ST#    Star Trek motion picture number #
STE    Star Trek Encyclopedia (book)
(used only for English spelling)
TKD    The Klingon Dictionary (book)
TKDa    Addendum to The Klingon Dictionary
TKW    The Klingon Way (book)
TNK    TalkNow! Klingon (interactive language course)
E–K    Only found in the English–Klingon part of source
K–E    Only found in the Klingon–English part of source

Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Klingon alphabetical order is as follows:

a, b, ch, D, e, gh, H, I, j, l, m, n, ng, o, p, q, Q, r, S, t, tlh, u, v, w, y, ’

Note that ch, gh, ng, tlh and ’ are considered letters in their own right, and that, as a result of this, the word nob would come before ngab in a Klingon alphabetic listing. q and Q represent two different sounds, and are thus sorted as two different letters.

This is only a rough guide to Klingon pronunciation, for a more detailed description, see TKD section 1.

a [ɑ] As in psalm or pa, never as in crabapple.
b [b] As in bronchitis, gazebo or bribe.
ch [t͡ʃ] As in chew or artichoke.
D [ɖ] As in Swedish värd (host), further back than English d as in dream or android. Let the tongue touch halfway between the teeth and the soft palate.
e [ɛ] As in sensor or pet.
gh [ɣ] Put tongue as if to say gobble, but relax and hum. Almost the same as H but voiced.
H [x] As in the name of the German composer Bach. Very strong and coarse. Similar to gh but without humming.
I [ɪ] As in misfit or pit.
j [d͡ʒ] As in junk (with an initial d-sound), never as in French jour.
l [l] As in lunge or alchemy.
m [m] As in mud or pneumatic.
n [n] As in nectarine or sunspot.
ng [ŋ] As in furlong or thing, never as in engulf. Also occurs at the beginning of syllables.
o [o] As in go or mosaic.
p [pʰ] As in parallax or oppobrium, always with a strong puff or pop, never laxly.
q [qʰ] Similar to k in kumquat, but further back. The tongue should touch the uvula while saying this. A puff of air should accompany the sound.
Q [q͡χ] A harder variant of q, very strong and raspy.
r [r] A trilled r using the tip of the tongue, as in Swedish rör (pipe, tube) if properly articulated.
S [ʂ] As in Swedish mothårs (against the predominant direction of hair growth e.g. on a pet) or as an English s articulated with the tongue in the Klingon D position.
t [tʰ] As in tarpaulin or critique. It is accompanied by a puff of air.
tlh [t͡ɬ] To learn how to say this Klingon sound, first say l, then keep your tongue in the same position and exhale. Now repeat this, but let the air build up pressure behind your tongue before releasing it. The resulting sound should be voiceless, and you should be able to feel the air escape quite forcefully on both sides of your tongue.
u [u] As in gnu, prune or soon, never as in but or cute.
v [v] As in vulgar or demonstrative.
w [w] As in worrywart or cow.
y [j] As in yodel or joy.
’ [ʔ] As in the abrupt cutoff of sound in uh-oh or unh-unh meaning “no”. At the end of a word this sound is usually followed by a soft echo of the preceding sound.

Stress

Verbs are stressed on the last syllable of the stem, and the first suffix is unstressed. After that, any additional suffixes which end in ’ are also stressed. Exception: The speaker may emphasize a suffix by shifting the stress to it, and leave the rest of the word unstressed (this frequently happens with -’a’, -be’, -Qo’, -Ha’, and -qu’). Adjectival verbs are stressed as verbs.

Nouns are usually stressed on the last syllable of the stem, however if there are any syllables in the word that end in ’, then those syllables are stressed instead (if there are more than one, they are equally stressed). Nominalized verbs (nouns made with -wI’ or -ghach) are stressed as nouns.