balrog

B3A1L1R1O1G2
UK/ˈbɔːl.ɹɒɡ/UK/ˈbal.ɹɒɡ/US/ˈbɔl.ɹɑɡ/US/ˈbɑl.ɹɑɡ/

noun

A fiery demonic creature.

UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

nounbalrog (plural balrogs)

plural balrogs

  1. fantasyA fiery demonic creature.

    What was released was a demon, a balrog of pure sexual energy which had been denied for too long.

    2004, post on newsgroup, alt.sex.bondage
    3 more examples

    The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall […]

    1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    […] is just a big goofy Balrog as far as I'm concerned, he might make a "Green Dot" poster scared; the big dweeb.

    2004, post on newsgroup, rec.skiing.alpine

    [And now, a warp-drive round of Confirm or Deny.][...] Gandalf the Grey was cooler than Gandalf the White. Hmm, that’s a tough one. I think in some ways he was cooler, but he kind of needed to defeat the Balrog in order to become a better wizard, I guess, and play a bigger role in defeating Sauron. But he was definitely more chill as Gandalf the Grey and had a better sense of humor.

    2020 July 25, Maureen Dowd, Elon Musk, “Elon Musk, Blasting Off in Domestic Bliss”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2020

Origin

Coined by J. R. R. Tolkien in his constructed language Sindarin as Balrog (literally “Demon of Might”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 炎魔
  • 炎魔 (yánmó)fiery demonic creature
Finnish balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
French balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
German Balrog
  • Balrogfiery demonic creature
Italian balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
Japanese バルログ
  • バルログ (barurogu)fiery demonic creature
Korean 발록
  • 발록 (ballok)fiery demonic creature
Norwegian balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
Polish balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
Russian ба́лрог
  • ба́лрог (bálrog)fiery demonic creature
Swedish balrog
  • balrogfiery demonic creature
Ukrainian балроґ
  • балроґ (balrog)fiery demonic creature

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

balrog. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balrog

MLA

“balrog.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balrog. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “balrog,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balrog.

Source: balrog on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.