Middle English translator
Translate English to Middle English, the English of Chaucer, or Middle English back to modern English. Free and private: nothing leaves your device.
Loading the Middle English word list…Word-by-word lookup: no grammar or word order is applied, so treat the result as a vocabulary guide. Word list from Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, with a hand-written core vocabulary added.
Related tools
Translate Old English
Translate English to Old English (Anglo-Saxon) or Old English back to English, word by word.
Translate Shakespeare
Translate modern English into Shakespearean English (thou, thee, thy) or Shakespearean back to plain English.
Translate Old Norse
Translate English to Old Norse (the Viking language) or Old Norse back to English, word by word.
Everything you need to translate Middle English
Both directions
Turn English into Middle English or read Middle English back into modern English.
Live translation
The result updates as you type. No button to press.
7,600 Middle English words
A real dictionary of Middle English headwords, not a short phrase list.
Honest about gaps
Words with no entry stay in [brackets] and are counted, so nothing is invented.
Chaucer-style spellings
Everyday words are written the way Chaucer wrote them, such as knyght, nyght and freend.
100% private
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored.
Translate in three steps
- 1
Pick a direction
Choose English → Middle English to translate a phrase, or Middle English → English to read a line of Chaucer.
- 2
Type or paste your text
Paste a sentence, a name or a line from a medieval text. Spelling varied from writer to writer, and the tool matches common spellings.
- 3
Check the brackets and copy
The result updates as you type. Words with no entry stay in [brackets] instead of being guessed. Copy it or download a .txt.
Built for students, writers and medieval fans
Middle English is the English of Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales, spoken from about 1150 to 1500. It is also the usual answer when someone searches for a medieval translator.
Students and teachers
Check vocabulary for the Canterbury Tales or a medieval literature course.
Writers and game designers
Find medieval-flavoured words and names for fiction, tabletop games and worldbuilding.
Reenactors and fairs
Write signs, toasts and greetings in the English of the late Middle Ages.
Curious readers
Paste a line of Chaucer and see roughly what each word means.
Frequently asked questions
What is Middle English?
+
Middle English is the stage of English between Old English and the modern language, spoken in England from about 1150 to 1500. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is the most famous example. It borrowed heavily from French after the Norman Conquest and had no fixed spelling.
How accurate is this Middle English translator?
+
It is a word-by-word lookup. Each word is matched to a Middle English word from a dictionary of about 7,600 headwords, plus a hand-written list of everyday words in Chaucer-style spellings. It does not change word order or grammar. Treat the output as a vocabulary guide for names, short phrases and creative projects.
Why does the same word have different spellings?
+
Middle English had no standard spelling. Scribes wrote the way they spoke, and the dialect changed from region to region. This tool picks one common spelling per word and also understands several variants when you translate back to English.
What does it do with a word it does not know?
+
It leaves the word in [square brackets] and counts it. It never invents a word. Modern words such as computer or pizza have no Middle English form.
Is a medieval translator the same thing?
+
Mostly. People searching for a medieval translator usually want Middle English, so this page covers that search. Medieval Latin, French and other languages of the time are different languages and are not covered.
Where does the word list come from?
+
The Middle English entries are taken from Wiktionary (licensed CC BY-SA 4.0), reduced to a compact list, with a hand-written core vocabulary added on top. Credit and licence are shown under the tool.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
+
No. The word list loads into your browser and the translation runs there. Nothing you type is sent to a server.
Translate Middle English now
Free, no account needed.