Phonetics of Dungeons & Dragons - How to Pronounce Drow
I’ve been playing D&D for as long as I can remember. Rolling those odd-shaped dice with my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules of Thac0 and math! My teenage self actually enjoyed the math of games more than Algebra class, for sure!
But this isn’t about high school math; it’s about language and phonetics. Back in the early 1980s, we didn’t have the internet, cell phones, Google, or AI to answer our questions. We had books, and a lot of them! Playing this fantasy game of chance, luck, fun, and role-playing was something you didn’t talk about outside your adventuring circle, and you certainly didn’t bring your polyhedron dice to school!
Reading was our gateway to fantastical worlds. We read about amazing things in an age when fantasy writing was evolving from the classic J.R.R. Tolkien to authors like Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Charles De Lint, Terry Brooks, and Robert Jordan. As a closet D&D player, I remember picking up “The Crystal Shard,” the first book by the then-unknown R.A. Salvatore, and my mind was blown!
Suddenly, fantastical words were added to my lexicon: Drow, Drizzt, Crenshinibon, Errtu, verbeeg, infravision, mage, svirfneblin and more! These words became part of our games and our hidden lives and we cherished them.
In the 90s, Dungeons & Dragons started to grow, and you could spot the geek in others. That’s when the phonetics debate began:
- Was it drow (like crow) or drow (like cow)?
- Mage (like page) or mage (like badge)?
- Infravision (in-fra-vision) or (infray-sion)?
- Lich (like litch) or lich (leech)?
- Duergar (dew-er-gar) or (dwair-gar)?
- Gibbering Mouther (jib-er-ing mouth-er) or (gib-er-ing mouth-er)?
- Gif (like gif) or gif (like jif)?
We didn’t know for sure, but my gaming party pronounced them one way, and another group pronounced them wrong (ok…differently). Of course, we were right! Without the internet, podcasts, or TV shows to settle the debate, it was a roll of the dice.
I lived in absolute certainty that I was right. It was a drow (like crow) mage (like page) with infravision (in-fra-vision) who blasted the duergar (dew-er-gar) lich (litch) with a lightning bolt! What fool would think otherwise?
Well, it turned out I was the fool.
A short time ago, I listened to a podcast with R.A. Salvatore, the writer who pulled me into this world of Dungeons & Dragons. The man who I spent countless hours reading about his adventures in and under Faerûn (fair-roon) and across Toril (Tore-il). The man who surely agreed with me. Then I heard it….
He said drow like cow. Like COW! It was like being hit in the dark by a raging duergar (crap! BG3 called them dwair-gar!) with infravision (in-fray-sion! What?!? Really?!?).
My world was rocked. Pronunciations had been wrong for so long; how could that be? Phonetics are hard… harder than finding the Thac0 to hit AC -5.
In reality, it doesn’t matter how you say it (or spell it) as long as you’re having a great time rolling dice and role-playing your favorite fantasy game! Here’s a list of other mispronounced D&D words for you to debate.
Word |
First Pronunciation |
Second Pronunciation |
|
Aarakocra |
ah-rah-KOH-krah |
air-ah-KOH-krah |
|
Aasimar |
AH-sih-mar |
AY-sih-mar |
|
Baphomet |
BAH-foh-met |
BAH-foh-may |
|
Beholder |
bee-HOHL-der |
bih-HOHL-der |
|
Chultan |
CHUL-tan |
CHOOL-tan |
|
Cthulhu |
kuh-THOO-loo |
kuh-TOO-loo |
|
Demogorgon |
DEH-moh-GOR-gon |
DEE-moh-GOR-gon |
|
Drizzt Do’Urden |
DRIZT doh-UR-den |
DRIZZ-it doh-UR-den |
|
Drow |
DROW (rhymes with cow) |
DROH |
|
Eberron |
EB-er-ron |
EE-ber-ron |
|
Eldritch |
EL-dritch |
EL-dreech |
|
Faerûn |
FAY-roon |
FAY-eh-roon |
|
Githyanki |
gith-YAN-kee |
GITH-yahn-kee |
|
Githzerai |
gith-ZER-eye |
GITH-zer-eye |
|
Gygax |
GEE-gaks |
GAI-gaks |
|
Illithid |
ILL-ih-thid |
ill-ITH-id |
|
Kobold |
KOH-bold |
KOH-bawld |
|
Kuo-toa |
KOO-oh-TOH-ah |
KOO-oh-TOH-uh |
|
Lich |
LITCH |
LEESH |
|
Lolth |
LOHL-th |
LOHLT |
|
Menzoberranzan |
MEN-zoh-beh-RAN-zan |
MEN-zoh-ber-AN-zan |
|
Myconid |
MY-koh-nid |
MEE-koh-nid |
|
Otyugh |
AH-tee-ug |
OH-tee-ug |
|
Quaggoth |
KWAG-oth |
KWAG-goth |
|
Roc |
ROK |
ROHK |
|
Svirfneblin |
svirf-NEB-lin |
svirf-NEB-lee-in |
|
Tarrasque |
tuh-RASK |
tuh-RASK-uh |
|
Tharizdun |
THAR-iz-dun |
THAR-iz-DOON |
|
Xanathar |
ZAN-uh-thar |
ZAHN-uh-thar |
|
Yuan-ti |
YOO-ahn-tee |
YOO-ahn-TIE |
|
Zhentarim |
zen-TAR-im |
ZHEN-tar-im |
May your path be clear, your weasels fierce and your stories legendary!
PS – I think R.A. Salvatore was wrong. It’s pronounced Drow like crow.
Devin