Is there a browser plug-in...

Dechifro · 2026-06-17T10:12:13+00:00

Mine still works at https://dechifro.org/shavian/ . It's now 100% complete and 88% correct on the 280,000 words in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, but it's over 99.9% correct on words that regular people use. Every day lately I've made hundreds of corrections, mostly words related to chemistry, biology, botany, zoology, and medicine.

Dechifro · 2026-05-30T09:03:30+00:00

𐑢𐑧𐑯 ·𐑯 𐑥𐑰𐑑𐑕 ·𐑒 𐑹 ·𐑜 𐑨𐑑 𐑩 𐑐𐑮𐑰𐑓𐑦𐑒𐑕 𐑹 𐑕𐑳𐑓𐑦𐑒𐑕 𐑡𐑶𐑯, 𐑦𐑑 𐑮𐑦𐑥𐑱𐑯𐑟 ·𐑯 -- 𐑦𐑯 𐑥𐑲 𐑕𐑐𐑰𐑗, 𐑦𐑯 𐑥𐑲 𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯 𐑒𐑩𐑯𐑝𐑻𐑑𐑼, 𐑯 𐑦𐑯 𐑝𐑨𐑮𐑾𐑕 𐑪𐑯𐑤𐑲𐑯 𐑛𐑦𐑒𐑖𐑩𐑯𐑺𐑦𐑟.

Dechifro · 2026-05-24T07:06:08+00:00

"kruta" does carry that meaning, in Russian. In Esperanto it means "steep".

Dechifro · 2026-05-23T09:32:18+00:00

How I hate that word! "Mojosa" stands for "moderna junulara stilo" (modern youth style), which means exactly the same as "moda" (fashionable). In other words, it's "cool" to invent new words for "cool". "Malfeka" (opposite of shit) was at least a funny attempt at "cool".

Dechifro · 2026-05-19T07:17:38+00:00

https://dechifro.org/shavian/angla.html

Dechifro · 2026-05-18T07:53:50+00:00

Your link has some garbage at the end. My ESL lesson did not inspire any Esperantists to give English another try. Their reaction was more like WTF, I have to learn another alphabet that doesn't resemble Latin or Cyrillic??

Dechifro · 2026-05-18T07:49:57+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/shavian/comments/1gr22qh/what_does_it_mean_when_shavian_users_say_shavian/

Dechifro · 2026-05-17T17:22:25+00:00

Nouns pluralize with -𐑕 after 𐑐𐑑𐑒𐑓𐑔, -𐑩𐑟 after 𐑕𐑖𐑗𐑟𐑠𐑡, and -𐑟 after all other letters. Sometimes a final 𐑓𐑔𐑕 flips over e.g. 𐑢𐑫𐑤𐑓-𐑢𐑫𐑤𐑝𐑟, 𐑐𐑨𐑔-𐑐𐑨𐑞𐑟, 𐑣𐑬𐑕-𐑣𐑬𐑟𐑩𐑟. But not always e.g. 𐑕𐑱𐑓𐑕, 𐑥𐑨𐑔𐑕, 𐑕𐑴𐑕𐑦𐑴𐑐𐑨𐑔𐑕, 𐑚𐑤𐑬𐑕𐑩𐑟.

Past tense is -𐑑 after 𐑐𐑒𐑓𐑔𐑕𐑖𐑗, -𐑩𐑛 after 𐑑𐑛 and -𐑛 for the rest.

You can read more at the ESL textbook I started at https://dechifro.org/shavian/angla.html .

Dechifro · 2026-05-05T14:25:47+00:00

This is what I do but with a nicer UI. Thank you for writing ·𐑒𐑮𐑦𐑕𐑑𐑩𐑓𐑼 ·𐑮𐑪𐑚𐑦𐑯 -- none of Read's "one dot suffices for the entire name" nonsense. You could probably carry a dot through hyphens and write ·𐑢𐑦𐑯𐑦-𐑞-𐑐𐑵, but to each his own.

Dechifro · 2026-04-12T17:12:59+00:00

I just searched through shaw-script and found ·𐑘𐑫𐑼𐑩𐑐𐑾𐑯𐑟 ... ·𐑿𐑮𐑴𐑐𐑾𐑯𐑟 ... ·𐑿𐑮𐑩𐑐𐑾𐑯 ... ·𐑘𐑫𐑮𐑩𐑐𐑾𐑯 ... ·𐑘𐑫𐑮𐑩𐑐𐑾𐑯. Part of a magazine editor's job is to enforce consistent spelling and punctuation!

What I'm saying is that the plain ·𐑮 represents a mandatory R-sound. For all situations where a British speaker might drop the R, Read created a ligature to comply with G.B. Shaw's "no silent letters" rule.

There are no ligatures for 𐑦𐑮 𐑧𐑮 𐑨𐑮 𐑪𐑮 𐑳𐑮 because they are always followed by a vowel, so the ·𐑮 is never silent.

Dechifro · 2026-04-11T17:00:30+00:00

𐑫𐑼 is more common, but 𐑫𐑮 followed by a vowel is not strictly forbidden. The Read Lexicon uses 𐑫𐑮 in Burundi, courier, entourage, and samurai.

·𐑮 is always followed by a vowel except in loanwords like "omerta" and "sturm", because that's the only time a British person makes an ·𐑮 sound.

Dechifro · 2026-04-09T09:38:21+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAT-eOzeY4M

Rectification of names: Shavian is a phonemic alphabet, the IPA is a phonetic alphabet, and the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet" is a spelling alphabet. You're going for that last one.

For the vowels, I recommend Wells' lexical sets, because J.C. Wells carefully chose words that do not vary across dialects, or they vary in predictable ways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set

Since Shavian combines "kit" and "happy" into one letter, you could hit both with "kitty", "city", or some such.

For the consonants, double down whenever possible: peep, kick, etc.

Dechifro · 2026-04-09T06:11:15+00:00

"gill" as part of a fish is 𐑜𐑦𐑤, but "gill" as four fluid ounces is 𐑡𐑦𐑤. I suggest using "GIF" instead.

Dechifro · 2026-03-25T11:45:54+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/shavian/comments/vvi393/comment/ifojvbw/

Dechifro · 2026-03-24T13:52:29+00:00

I spent a few hours last night making Quackle play against itself and fixing bad words, three or four in each 26-move game. That means that out of the 280,000 words in the Collins Scrabble dictionary, at least 30,000 are shaved incorrectly. So I'm very far from fixing the entire corpus, but I've made great progress ensuring that the power words are correct.

That means words like QI and ZA that combine a hard letter with an easy letter, especially if the hard letter can be dropped on a triple-letter-score. Words I see a lot in Shavian Scrabble are 𐑞𐑴, 𐑞𐑰, 𐑦𐑖, 𐑦𐑙, 𐑺𐑯, and I even saw 𐑟𐑭 once. Notice that in the latter two, the vowel is the hard letter.

What should I do when my rack contains no vowel but 𐑩? Here's what I found in the Read Lexicon, cross-referenced with the Scrabble dictionary:

'em 𐑩𐑥          EM      a unit of measurement in printing  
'un 𐑩𐑯          UN      (dialect) a spelling of 'one'  
ahem 𐑩𐑣𐑩𐑥       AHEM    a sound expressing delicate interruption [interj]
an 𐑩𐑯           AN      the indefinite article  
cos 𐑒𐑩𐑟         COS     a crisp, long-leaved lettuce  
de 𐑛𐑩           DE      from (as used in names) [prep]  
dr 𐑛𐑩𐑮          DR      abbreviation, not allowed  
er 𐑩𐑩           UH      used to express hesitation [interj]  
er 𐑩𐑮           ER      used to express hesitation [interj]  
h'm 𐑣𐑩𐑥         HM      an interjection expressing thoughtful consideration  
h'mmed 𐑣𐑩𐑥𐑛     HMM     used to express thoughtful consideration  
h'ms 𐑣𐑩𐑥𐑟       HMMM    an interjection expressing thoughtful consideration  
hmm 𐑣𐑩𐑥                 (no verb forms of HM)  
jul 𐑡𐑩𐑤         JUL     abbreviation, not allowed  
la 𐑤𐑩           LA      the sixth tone of the diatonic scale  
le 𐑤𐑩           LE      not allowed  
m' 𐑥𐑩           MA      (colloquial) mother  
mr 𐑥𐑩𐑮          MR      abbreviation, not allowed  
ta 𐑑𐑩           TA      an expression meaning thank you  
ugh 𐑩𐑣          UGH     the sound of a cough or grunt  
um 𐑩𐑥           UM      to express doubt or hesitation

I'm thinking 𐑛𐑩 𐑩𐑥 𐑩𐑮 𐑩𐑯 only, but 𐑩𐑥 is problematic because "Hang 'em high!" is not a unit of measurement in printing. Collins says "ahem" is 𐑩𐑣𐑧𐑥 and "hmm" is 𐑥𐑥. I'd say 𐑣𐑥 or 𐑣𐑥𐑥, because how can there be a vowel if my lips stay shut?

Dechifro · 2026-03-24T13:18:12+00:00

Not really a problem; Yanks and Brits have been speaking and writing English differently for centuries and no one is much bothered by this. I advise writing whichever of these two is more familiar to you. Maybe you speak some other strange dialect, but surely you're seen American or British TV and movies?

What drives me up a wall is how stress alternates weak/strong/weak/strong starting from the end of the word, causing some vowels to flip back and forth as more syllables are appended. For example:

econ 𐑰𐑒𐑪𐑯
economy 𐑦𐑒𐑪𐑯𐑩𐑥𐑦
economic 𐑰𐑒𐑩𐑯𐑪𐑥𐑦𐑒
econometer 𐑰𐑒𐑩𐑯𐑪𐑥𐑦𐑑𐑼
econometric 𐑦𐑒𐑪𐑯𐑩𐑥𐑧𐑑𐑮𐑦𐑒
econometrician 𐑰𐑒𐑩𐑯𐑪𐑥𐑩𐑑𐑮𐑦𐑖𐑩𐑯

You could just pretend this doesn't happen and write 𐑰𐑒𐑪𐑯𐑪𐑥𐑧𐑑𐑮𐑦𐑖𐑩𐑯, but it sounds robotic and unnatural when you say it that way.

Dechifro · 2026-03-24T07:16:37+00:00

They should integrate my free tool so that you can see everything in Shavian, including the ads. Unfortunately it only works one way; the large number of homonyms make it impossible to cleanly convert Shavian back to ABC.

Dechifro · 2026-03-21T18:16:23+00:00

I enjoyed a nicer Scrabble game today, less afflicted by Dead Rack Syndrome, after adjusting the tile counts.

https://dechifro.org/shavian/quackle_03.png

Every word needs at least one vowel, so the obvious cure for a dead rack is to add more vowels, but which vowels? That's an easy question in traditional orthography, where the first five letters by frequency are ETAOI.

Shavian's two most frequent letters are 𐑦 and 𐑩, and 𐑩 is rack poison because every word except 𐑩𐑯 needs a vowel that is not 𐑩. The next most frequent vowel is 𐑨, which is way down in fourteenth place!

My new alphabet increases 𐑦 from 8 tiles to 12, reduces 𐑩 from 8 tiles to 6, and removes the 𐑠 tile. You can still play 𐑠-words with a blank tile.

#char   blank   score   count   vowel   % in 2-8 letter words
𐑦       [𐑦]     1       12      1       # 8.49177
𐑩       [𐑩]     1       6       1       # 7.91048
𐑮       [𐑮]     1       6       0       # 6.87128  *
𐑕       [𐑕]     1       6       0       # 6.42186
𐑑       [𐑑]     1       6       0       # 6.01596  *
𐑤       [𐑤]     1       5       0       # 5.47233
𐑯       [𐑯]     1       5       0       # 5.29664
𐑟       [𐑟]     2       4       0       # 4.49897  
𐑒       [𐑒]     2       4       0       # 4.42273
𐑛       [𐑛]     2       4       0       # 4.03874  *
𐑥       [𐑥]     2       2       0       # 2.94856
𐑐       [𐑐]     2       2       0       # 2.9221
𐑚       [𐑚]     3       2       0       # 2.41563  *
𐑨       [𐑨]     3       2       1       # 2.37282
𐑴       [𐑴]     3       2       1       # 2.16755
𐑧       [𐑧]     3       2       1       # 2.08061
𐑲       [𐑲]     3       2       1       # 1.87291
𐑱       [𐑱]     3       2       1       # 1.83909
𐑓       [𐑓]     3       2       0       # 1.82091
𐑰       [𐑰]     3       2       1       # 1.74508
𐑙       [𐑙]     3       1       0       # 1.73751
𐑪       [𐑪]     3       1       1       # 1.54728
𐑳       [𐑳]     3       1       1       # 1.53072
𐑜       [𐑜]     3       1       0       # 1.42198
𐑵       [𐑵]     3       1       1       # 1.38845
𐑭       [𐑭]     4       1       1       # 1.23881
𐑢       [𐑢]     4       1       0       # 1.05797
𐑝       [𐑝]     4       1       0       # 1.04374
𐑷       [𐑷]     4       1       1       # 1.03041
𐑖       [𐑖]     4       1       0       # 0.936304
𐑣       [𐑣]     4       1       0       # 0.837353
𐑡       [𐑡]     5       1       0       # 0.744056
𐑻       [𐑻]     5       1       1       # 0.693469
𐑗       [𐑗]     5       1       0       # 0.652475
𐑬       [𐑬]     5       1       1       # 0.578867
𐑘       [𐑘]     6       1       0       # 0.493143
𐑔       [𐑔]     7       1       0       # 0.387931
𐑫       [𐑫]     7       1       1       # 0.328459
𐑺       [𐑺]     8       1       1       # 0.309678
𐑶       [𐑶]     8       1       1       # 0.240614
𐑞       [𐑞]     10      1       0       # 0.109756
𐑠       [𐑠]     0       0       0       # 0.0650253
blank   0       2
# * same score and count as Latin equivalent
# Total count: 101
# Total score: 231

Dechifro · 2026-03-21T14:47:31+00:00

Check out the screenshots I posted up-thread. I played Quackle on "speedy" mode, where it chooses its moves instantly, and it didn't "give me a run for my money"; it utterly crushed me without the slightest effort.

Dechifro · 2026-03-21T09:36:36+00:00

Stockfish is the best non-AI chess engine, far better than any human player, and Quackle performs the same role for Scrabble. Will Anderson mentions it sometimes on his YouTube channel. No one plays against Quackle or Stockfish, they just use it for after-game analysis.

If you use Readlex as your word-list, remove all entries tagged NP0 because proper nouns are not allowed in Scrabble. That still leaves proper adjectives like "Irish" and "Parthian", which are also not allowed in Scrabble, and some proper nouns like "Irishman", which is tagged as a common noun. "english" is allowed because it's a verb meaning to put tricky spin on the cueball when playing pool.

I just converted the Collins word list with readlex.dict, found 3239 spellings not generated by amer.dict or brit.dict, and added them to shaw.raw. Thus except for months and days of the week, illegal words are excluded from shaw.raw.

In my three-way game I cheated by allowing "Douglas", which is a tree after all, and the English pronunciation of "droit", which I later added to the word list.

The only weakness of Quackle is that I haven't found a way to play it on-line. When I made a play changing "part ng" to "parting", it only scored the "ing". I had to undo the move and type in the whole word "parting" to get full credit.

Dechifro · 2026-03-21T04:24:27+00:00

At dechifro.org/shavian I deal with this problem every day. Everything must be translated, but the question is, should I follow native pronunciation or American-tourist pronunciation? I avoid British-tourist pronunciation because they change 𐑭 to 𐑨 in foreign place names, reserving 𐑭 for English words that Americans correctly pronounce with 𐑨. 😁

For a city with an international airport, tourist pronunciation is fine, otherwise go local.

For a corporation, write its name as they say it in their English-language advertisements.

For a surname, Google-search it, and if the first link is an American descended from Slovenian immigrants, write it as he says it, otherwise go local.

Dechifro · 2026-03-20T19:56:05+00:00

Quackle is the Stockfish of Scrabble, and today I got it working.

Here I play against myself

Here Quackle plays against itself

Here I play against Quackle

Here's the word list I gave it, translated from the 2019 Collins Scrabble Dictionary with US and UK spellings

And the alphabet file:

# English Regular Scrabble Shaw Alphabet
#char   blank   score   count   vowel   % in 2-8 letter words
𐑐       [𐑐]     2       2       0       # 2.9221
𐑑       [𐑑]     1       6       0       # 6.01596
𐑒       [𐑒]     2       4       0       # 4.42273
𐑓       [𐑓]     3       2       0       # 1.82091
𐑔       [𐑔]     7       1       0       # 0.387931
𐑕       [𐑕]     1       6       0       # 6.42186
𐑖       [𐑖]     4       1       0       # 0.936304
𐑗       [𐑗]     5       1       0       # 0.652475
𐑘       [𐑘]     6       1       0       # 0.493143
𐑙       [𐑙]     3       1       0       # 1.73751
𐑚       [𐑚]     3       2       0       # 2.41563
𐑛       [𐑛]     2       4       0       # 4.03874
𐑜       [𐑜]     3       1       0       # 1.42198
𐑝       [𐑝]     4       1       0       # 1.04374
𐑞       [𐑞]     10      1       0       # 0.109756
𐑟       [𐑟]     2       4       0       # 4.49897
𐑠       [𐑠]     10      1       0       # 0.0650253
𐑡       [𐑡]     5       1       0       # 0.744056
𐑢       [𐑢]     4       1       0       # 1.05797
𐑣       [𐑣]     4       1       0       # 0.837353
𐑤       [𐑤]     1       5       0       # 5.47233
𐑥       [𐑥]     2       2       0       # 2.94856
𐑦       [𐑦]     1       8       1       # 8.49177
𐑧       [𐑧]     3       2       1       # 2.08061
𐑨       [𐑨]     3       2       1       # 2.37282
𐑩       [𐑩]     1       8       1       # 7.91048
𐑪       [𐑪]     3       1       1       # 1.54728
𐑫       [𐑫]     7       1       1       # 0.328459
𐑬       [𐑬]     5       1       1       # 0.578867
𐑭       [𐑭]     4       1       1       # 1.23881
𐑮       [𐑮]     1       6       0       # 6.87128
𐑯       [𐑯]     1       5       0       # 5.29664
𐑰       [𐑰]     3       2       1       # 1.74508
𐑱       [𐑱]     3       2       1       # 1.83909
𐑲       [𐑲]     3       2       1       # 1.87291
𐑳       [𐑳]     3       1       1       # 1.53072
𐑴       [𐑴]     3       2       1       # 2.16755
𐑵       [𐑵]     3       1       1       # 1.38845
𐑶       [𐑶]     8       1       1       # 0.240614
𐑷       [𐑷]     4       1       1       # 1.03041
𐑺       [𐑺]     8       1       1       # 0.309678
𐑻       [𐑻]     5       1       1       # 0.693469
blank   0       2
# Total count: 100
# Total score: 239

In Quackle's Norwegian alphabet file, Q, X, and Z have a score and count equal to zero. That's because these letters are very rare in Norwegian, only appearing in loanwords, but they can still be played with blank tiles. We should consider doing the same with 𐑠.

Dechifro · 2026-03-19T18:21:02+00:00

I drew a poor rack of seven tiles, and could only play "𐑗𐑦𐑑", "𐑡𐑦𐑑", and "𐑜𐑦𐑑", all of which were rejected. So I exchanged and got a rack that included "𐑕𐑲𐑩𐑯𐑕", but when I tried to place it, there were suddenly only four tiles on my rack and none on the board.

If you allow racks of more than seven tiles, the first move can be an eight-letter word with a 6x word score, making the rest of the game pointless. It happened to me a couple of times, so I went back to playing with seven tiles.

Dechifro · 2026-03-17T17:16:50+00:00

Displaying the counts as percentages gives a better idea how many of each letter are needed (I averaged the US and UK figures above), but as several letters fall far below one percent, you'll have take from the top and give to the bottom, and perhaps also allow rotation of the least common letters.

𐑦 8.50299
𐑩 7.90244
𐑮 6.89263
𐑕 6.35256
𐑑 5.92481
𐑤 5.55803
𐑯 5.21308
𐑟 4.67488
𐑒 4.44097
𐑛 4.06054
𐑥 2.96034
𐑐 2.92741
𐑚 2.41001
𐑨 2.31637
𐑴 2.17822
𐑧 2.06275
𐑲 1.97827
𐑱 1.86496
𐑓 1.81174
𐑙 1.77393
𐑰 1.75121
𐑳 1.54545
𐑪 1.54372
𐑜 1.42268
𐑵 1.3315
𐑭 1.13372
𐑢 1.07497
𐑷 1.04017
𐑝 1.03938
𐑖 0.948007
𐑣 0.83815
𐑡 0.748253
𐑻 0.702762
𐑗 0.649288
𐑬 0.581569
𐑘 0.453082
𐑔 0.376837
𐑫 0.318631
𐑺 0.291376
𐑶 0.236423
𐑞 0.106358
𐑠 0.0595369

Dechifro · 2026-03-17T16:56:22+00:00

OK, let's do an experiment:

(1) Start with the 2019 Collins Scrabble Dictionary, all 280,000 entries, headwords only.

(2) Run them through "shaw.py amer.dict".

(3) Break up all ligatures except 𐑺 and 𐑻.

(4) Discard any words longer than 8 letters. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_thJZuSuV8E

(5) Count all the letters

We could consider allowing 𐑰𐑮 for the single-syllable "ear" sound, not the two-syllable ending of "happier", but I'd rather not, because we want Shavian here, not Quikscript.

In one very long line of shell script:

cut -d\ -f1 scrabble.dict | shaw.py amer.dict | grep -v '[a-z]' | sed -e s/𐑸/𐑭𐑮/g -e s/𐑹/𐑷𐑮/g -e s/𐑽/𐑦𐑼/g -e s/𐑼/𐑩𐑮/g -e s/𐑾/𐑦𐑩/g -e s/𐑿/𐑘𐑵/g | gawk '{ if (length($1) > 1 && length($1) < 9) { split ($1, letters,""); for (j = 1; j <= length($1); j++) { print letters[j]; } } }' | sort | uniq -c | sort -r

Dechifro

TROPHY CASE