Pig Latin Translator
Translate English into Pig Latin — and Pig Latin back into English on a best-effort basis. Capitalization and punctuation are preserved, and consonant clusters move as a unit.
Direction
The Rules of Pig Latin
Starts with a vowel → add "way"
apple → appleway · orange → orangeway
Starts with a consonant → move it, add "ay"
hello → ellohay · pig → igpay
Consonant cluster moves as a whole
string → ingstray · three → eethray
"qu" travels as one unit
question → estionquay · squash → ashsquay
Capitalization and punctuation are preserved
Hello, world! → Ellohay, orldway!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the rules of Pig Latin?
- Words that start with a consonant (or consonant cluster) move that cluster to the end and add 'ay': 'hello' becomes 'ellohay' and 'string' becomes 'ingstray'. Words that start with a vowel simply add 'way': 'apple' becomes 'appleway'.
- How does the translator handle words starting with 'qu'?
- The letters 'qu' are treated as a single unit, because in English the 'u' belongs with the 'q'. So 'question' becomes 'estionquay' rather than 'uestionqay', and 'squash' becomes 'ashsquay'.
- Does the translator keep capitalization and punctuation?
- Yes. A capitalized word stays capitalized after translation ('Hello' becomes 'Ellohay'), and punctuation attached to a word — commas, periods, quotes — stays exactly where it was.
- Can it translate Pig Latin back to English?
- Yes, on a best-effort basis. Pig Latin is ambiguous in reverse — 'itchway' could come from 'witch' or 'itch' — so the reverse direction uses heuristics: it strips the 'ay' ending, restores 'way' endings on vowel words, and moves trailing consonant clusters back to the front. Check the output for the occasional ambiguous word.
- Is the letter Y a vowel or a consonant in Pig Latin?
- This translator treats Y as a consonant at the start of a word ('yellow' becomes 'ellowyay') and as a vowel elsewhere, so a cluster like 'rhy' in 'rhythm' breaks before the Y. That matches the most common Pig Latin convention.