This Pig Latin translator turns English into Pig Latin and turns Pig Latin back into English. Type a line, pick a direction, and the answer appears as you type. When one Pig Latin word could stand for two English words, the tool shows both. Nothing you type is sent or saved.
Result
Words that start with a vowel end in:
Try an example:
How to use the Pig Latin translator
Pick “To Pig Latin” to code a message, or “To English” to read one. In Pig Latin mode, you can choose how words that start with a vowel end: with -way or with -yay. Both styles are common, so match the person you are writing to. The Swap button puts the answer back in the box and flips the direction, which is a quick way to check your work.
Pig Latin rules, with examples
Pig Latin changes one word at a time. If a word starts with a consonant sound, you move that consonant, or the whole group of consonants, to the end and add “ay”. If a word starts with a vowel, you keep it whole and add “way” or “yay”. Wikipedia’s article on the game gives these same two rules, with pig, latin, clown and banana as its examples.
| Word starts with | What to do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| One consonant | Move it to the end, then add “ay”. | pig → igpay, latin → atinlay |
| A group of consonants | Move the whole group, not just the first letter. | clown → ownclay, string → ingstray |
| Qu | Keep q and u together. | quiet → ietquay, square → aresquay |
| Y at the start | Treat y as a consonant. | yellow → ellowyay |
| Y after consonants | Treat y as a vowel, so only the letters before it move. | rhythm → ythmrhay |
| A vowel | Keep the word whole and add “way” or “yay”. | apple → appleway or appleyay |
| An apostrophe | The apostrophe stays where it was. | don’t → on’tday |
| A hyphen | Each part is coded on its own. | well-known → ellway-ownknay |
| A number | Numbers stay as they are. | 4 eggs → 4 eggsway |
| No vowel at all | Add “ay” to the end. | hmm → hmmay |
Capital letters follow the word, so “Pig” becomes “Igpay” and “PIG” becomes “IGPAY”. Commas, question marks and other punctuation stay where they were. The table covers the small cases, like qu and y, where online translators often give different answers. The tool above follows the table exactly, so you always know why a word came out the way it did.
Why decoding Pig Latin is guesswork
Turning Pig Latin back into English is harder than it looks. The word “eatway” could be “eat” with -way added, or “weat” with the w moved to the end. In the same way, “atchway” could be “watch” or “atch”. Only a word list, or the person who wrote it, can settle which one was meant.
This decoder works out every reading that fits the rules and then ranks them. A reading that matches one of the 176 common words in the list below goes first. The other readings appear in brackets in the word-by-word list, up to two per word. For names and rare words, look at those choices and pick the one that makes sense.
Common English words in Pig Latin
The table below shows 176 everyday words in Pig Latin. It is also the list the decoder uses to rank its guesses. Only words that start with a vowel, like “and” or “is”, change between the -way and -yay styles, so those rows show both. If you are learning Pig Latin, these short words are the best ones to practice first.
Show all 176 words
| English | Pig Latin |
|---|---|
| a | away / ayay |
| about | aboutway / aboutyay |
| after | afterway / afteryay |
| again | againway / againyay |
| all | allway / allyay |
| also | alsoway / alsoyay |
| always | alwaysway / alwaysyay |
| am | amway / amyay |
| an | anway / anyay |
| and | andway / andyay |
| any | anyway / anyyay |
| apple | appleway / appleyay |
| are | areway / areyay |
| as | asway / asyay |
| ask | askway / askyay |
| at | atway / atyay |
| away | awayway / awayyay |
| back | ackbay |
| be | ebay |
| because | ecausebay |
| been | eenbay |
| before | eforebay |
| best | estbay |
| big | igbay |
| but | utbay |
| by | ybay |
| call | allcay |
| came | amecay |
| can | ancay |
| come | omecay |
| could | ouldcay |
| day | ayday |
| did | idday |
| do | oday |
| does | oesday |
| done | oneday |
| down | ownday |
| each | eachway / eachyay |
| eat | eatway / eatyay |
| egg | eggway / eggyay |
| end | endway / endyay |
| even | evenway / evenyay |
| every | everyway / everyyay |
| eye | eyeway / eyeyay |
| find | indfay |
| first | irstfay |
| for | orfay |
| friend | iendfray |
| from | omfray |
| fun | unfay |
| get | etgay |
| give | ivegay |
| go | ogay |
| good | oodgay |
| got | otgay |
| had | adhay |
| has | ashay |
| have | avehay |
| he | ehay |
| hello | ellohay |
| help | elphay |
| her | erhay |
| here | erehay |
| him | imhay |
| his | ishay |
| home | omehay |
| how | owhay |
| I | Iway / Iyay |
| if | ifway / ifyay |
| in | inway / inyay |
| into | intoway / intoyay |
| is | isway / isyay |
| it | itway / ityay |
| just | ustjay |
| keep | eepkay |
| know | owknay |
| last | astlay |
| latin | atinlay |
| like | ikelay |
| little | ittlelay |
| look | ooklay |
| love | ovelay |
| make | akemay |
| many | anymay |
| me | emay |
| more | oremay |
| my | ymay |
| name | amenay |
| need | eednay |
| never | evernay |
| new | ewnay |
| next | extnay |
| nix | ixnay |
| night | ightnay |
| no | onay |
| not | otnay |
| now | ownay |
| of | ofway / ofyay |
| off | offway / offyay |
| old | oldway / oldyay |
| on | onway / onyay |
| once | onceway / onceyay |
| one | oneway / oneyay |
| only | onlyway / onlyyay |
| open | openway / openyay |
| or | orway / oryay |
| other | otherway / otheryay |
| our | ourway / ouryay |
| out | outway / outyay |
| over | overway / overyay |
| people | eoplepay |
| pig | igpay |
| play | ayplay |
| please | easeplay |
| put | utpay |
| really | eallyray |
| right | ightray |
| said | aidsay |
| say | aysay |
| school | oolschay |
| scram | amscray |
| see | eesay |
| she | eshay |
| so | osay |
| some | omesay |
| still | illstay |
| stop | opstay |
| take | aketay |
| talk | alktay |
| tell | elltay |
| than | anthay |
| thank | ankthay |
| that | atthay |
| the | ethay |
| their | eirthay |
| them | emthay |
| then | enthay |
| there | erethay |
| they | eythay |
| thing | ingthay |
| think | inkthay |
| this | isthay |
| three | eethray |
| time | imetay |
| to | otay |
| today | odaytay |
| too | ootay |
| two | otway |
| under | underway / underyay |
| up | upway / upyay |
| us | usway / usyay |
| use | useway / useyay |
| very | eryvay |
| want | antway |
| was | asway |
| watch | atchway |
| way | ayway |
| we | eway |
| well | ellway |
| went | entway |
| were | ereway |
| what | atwhay |
| when | enwhay |
| where | erewhay |
| which | ichwhay |
| who | owhay |
| why | ywhay |
| will | illway |
| with | ithway |
| word | ordway |
| work | orkway |
| would | ouldway |
| yes | esyay |
| yet | etyay |
| you | ouyay |
| your | ouryay |
Pig Latin words in American slang
Two Pig Latin words made it into everyday American English: ixnay and amscray. Ixnay comes from “nix”, and Merriam-Webster lists it as an ordinary verb and adverb, first used in 1928. Amscray comes from “scram”, a word Merriam-Webster dates to about 1928 itself. Wiktionary says amscray may be the only Pig Latin word besides ixnay to enter common American English.
| Word | From | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ixnay (also icksnay) | nix | No. As a verb, to cancel or reject something. | “Ixnay on the pizza, we spent our money.” |
| ixnay on the … | nix | A hint to stop talking about something. | “Ixnay on the party, she’s right behind you.” |
| amscray | scram | Go away, get out of here. | “The game’s over, so amscray.” |
The phrase “ixnay on the” is a joking way to tell a friend to drop a subject, and Wiktionary notes it is often said when the subject must not come up. It works best when the person nearby does not speak Pig Latin. So many people know these two words that they no longer hide much. For slang that is much newer, our Gen Z slang translator explains words from texts and social media.
Where Pig Latin came from
None of the sources we checked names an inventor, and the name has nothing to do with real Latin. Wikipedia explains that early “hog Latin” and “pig Latin” often meant fake Latin, a joke language now called Dog Latin. Merriam-Webster gives 1895 as the first known use of “pig Latin” in today’s sense. That same year, The Atlantic called it a jargon “that all sorts of children like to play with.”
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1866 | An article describes a “hog latin” that boys used to fool people listening in. It worked differently from today’s game. | Wikipedia, citing the article |
| 1895 | The name “pig Latin” shows up in print. In January, The Atlantic calls it a jargon children like to play with. | Merriam-Webster (first known use); Wikipedia |
| 1919 | Singer Arthur Fields records “Pig Latin Love” for Columbia, using modern Pig Latin in its subtitle. | Wikipedia |
| 1928 | First known use of ixnay. | Merriam-Webster |
| 1933 | Ginger Rogers sings a verse of “We’re in the Money” in Pig Latin in the film Gold Diggers of 1933. | Wikipedia |
| 1945 | Amscray is heard in a Fibber McGee and Molly radio episode on May 15, the earliest example Wiktionary lists. | Wiktionary |
| 1947 | A newspaper question-and-answer column explains the rule used today: move the first letter to the end and add “ay”. | Wikipedia, citing the column |
Wikipedia’s Pig Latin article carries a warning that it needs more citations. For that reason, this timeline keeps only dates the article ties to a cited source, or that a dictionary confirms. Some pages say monks made up Pig Latin, but we found no source for that story. If we find an earlier dated example, we will add it here.
Who uses Pig Latin, and what parents should know
Wikipedia describes Pig Latin as a game used most by young children, often to confuse adults. It is wordplay, not slang that belongs to one group, and it has no hidden rude meaning of its own. If your child or student is writing in it, paste the text into the “To English” side to read it. If the message is full of texting slang instead, the text slang decoder can explain each term.
Test yourself: can you read Pig Latin?
These five questions use the rules from this page. Some ask you to decode, and some ask you to code. The note under each question explains the answer, so you learn as you go. Try them before you check with the translator.
1. Which English word does “ixnay” come from?
Nix. Move the n to the end and add “ay”, and nix becomes ixnay. It means no, or to cancel something.
2. What is “string” in Pig Latin?
Ingstray. The whole group s, t, r moves to the end, not just the s. Then you add “ay”.
3. How does “apple” look in Pig Latin?
Appleway or appleyay. Apple starts with a vowel, so the word stays whole and gets -way or -yay.
4. Decode this line: “Eshay oesday otnay owknay.”
She does not know. Each word moved its first consonant sound to the end. In know, the k and n moved together.
5. Why is “eatway” hard to decode?
It could be eat or weat. A vowel word gets -way, and a word that starts with w also ends in -way once the w moves. The sentence around it tells you which.
What this translator cannot do
The tool works from spelling, but the real rule is about sounds. So “hour” becomes “ourhay”, even though by sound it should be “hourway”, since hour starts with a vowel sound. “Honest” trips it up the same way, and “university” trips it the other way, since it starts with a y sound. It also expects vowel words to end in -way or -yay, so a message that only adds “ay” to them may decode oddly.
Names and rare words are not in its word list, so check the choices in brackets when you decode. It only knows the English game, not versions from other languages, such as French verlan. If you want text that looks broken rather than coded, the glitch text generator does that. Like this tool, it runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Last checked: October 29, 2026.
