Meanings
plural conlangers
- Someone who creates constructed languages (conlangs).
No conlanger could hope to create a language with the depth and richness of a natural language.
2023 December 30, Daniel W. Hieber, “Why I hate conlangs”, in Linguistic Discovery, archived from the original on 24 May 20244 more examples
The fact that the Internet has given visible shape to communities of invented language proponents through web sites and chat rooms for enthusiastic conlangers (‘language constructors’) has probably done little to dispel its reputation as a somewhat unusual and, to all intents and purposes, intangible undertaking.
2005, Mari C. Jones, Ishtla Singh, Exploring Language Change, page 154The split was between two groups. The first was composed of people interested in quietly developing and discussing the languages they crafted for science-fictional worlds, what-if-a-language-did-this playfulness, or Tolkienesque fun (the true conlangers).
2006, William Allison Shimer, The American Scholar, volume 75, page 99The goal of a conlanger, a language creator, is to realize a linguistic system that′s both unique and authentic—something that doesn't exist anywhere on Earth, but which a linguist wouldn′t be surprised to find in the wild.
2012, Bryan Cogman, Inside HBO′s Game of Thrones, page 174The personalization of language allowed by conlanging is what draws many conlangers to the hobby. […] However, Woodbury is quick to remember Marc Okrand, a classmate of his from graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley, who was both an accomplished linguist and a conlanger. Okrand invented Klingon, a language he intentionally designed to sound “alien.”
2012 October 31, Laura Wright, “UT Language Creation Society invites students to learn origins of newer languages”, in The Daily Texan, Austin, Tex.: Texas Student Media, University of Texas at Austin, published 8 April 2013, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2020
Origin
Translations
Arabic مُصطنع
- مُصطنعone who creates constructed languages
Finnish keinokielen kehittäjä
- keinokielen kehittäjäone who creates constructed languages
French idéolinguiste, conlanger
- idéolinguisteone who creates constructed languages
- conlangerone who creates constructed languages
Hebrew קונלנגר
- קונלנגרone who creates constructed languages
Italian glossopoeta
- glossopoetaone who creates constructed languages
Norwegian Bokmål språkforfatter
- språkforfatterone who creates constructed languages
Polish językotwórca, językotwórczyni
- językotwórcaone who creates constructed languages
- językotwórczynione who creates constructed languages
Cite this entry
conlanger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conlanger
“conlanger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conlanger. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “conlanger,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conlanger.
Source: conlanger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.