What is Pig Latin?

Pig Latin is a language game played in English. Words are altered according to a simple set of rules to create a disguised form of the original text. It is commonly used for fun by children and in wordplay.

Rules

Vowel-first words: Append way to the end. Example: apple -> appleway
Consonant-first words: Move the leading consonant cluster to the end and append ay. Example: pig -> igpay
qu cluster: Treated as a single unit: queen -> eenquay

Options

Preserve capitalization: Keeps the original word's case pattern on the translated result.
Keep punctuation attached: Punctuation at the start and end of words stays in place.

History and origins

Pig Latin's exact origin is unclear, but examples appear in print from at least the late 19th century. The name "Pig Latin" (implying a nonsense imitation of Latin) was in use by 1887. Earlier variants included "Dog Latin" and similar children's language games. The rules were never formally standardized - different communities use different suffixes ("ay", "way", "yay") and handle edge cases inconsistently. This translator follows the most widely documented rules.

Similar language games

Ubbi Dubbi (US): insert "ub" before every vowel sound. "Pig" -> "Pubig". Popularized by the children's TV show Zoom (1972).
Verlan (French): a more complex syllable-inversion argot widely used in French slang. "l'envers" (the reverse) -> "verlan". Some Verlan words like "meuf" (femme) have entered mainstream French vocabulary.
Rövarspråket (Swedish): double each consonant and insert "o" between them. "Pig" -> "Popigog". Used in the Kalle Blomkvist books by Astrid Lindgren.