Minecraft Enchanting Table Language: Rune Translator

The Minecraft enchanting table language is the Standard Galactic Alphabet, a constructed script that the game draws on each enchantment option and in the glyph particles that fly from nearby bookshelves. It was created by the American game designer Tom Hall for the Commander Keen games, and it replaces each English letter A to Z with a rune. The words in the table are random and purely cosmetic, so reading them will not tell you which enchantment you get. This guide has an enchantment table translator you can use below (text to runes and back), a rune chart, and the verified facts about what the table text does and does not mean (checked against the Minecraft Wiki on 2026-10-23).

Enchantment table translator

Type English text to see it in runes, or tap the rune keyboard to build a message rune by rune. Letters are case-insensitive. Digits, punctuation, accented letters and non-Latin characters have no rune and pass through unchanged. The runes on this page are our own drawing of the cipher, so they do not look the same as the glyphs in the game: only the letter-to-rune mapping is shared. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is sent or stored, and the share link keeps your text in the URL after the #.

Standard Galactic Alphabet rune chart

The chart shows the rune used for each of the 26 Latin letters. The cipher only covers the letters A to Z: the game's font textures only those, and lowercase is an exact copy of uppercase.

How the enchanting table text works

When you put an item into an enchanting table, three options appear, each with a line of runes. Per the Minecraft Wiki, the glyphs do not affect the enchantment. Three to five words are picked from a fixed list (words such as "the", "elder", "scrolls", "bless", "fire", "enchant" and "range"), joined together and shown on the button. The wiki states these words are random and purely cosmetic: they have no relation to the enchantments the item will receive. The list also holds Easter eggs: the first screenshot of the enchantment screen, posted on October 1, 2011, read "Well Played Internets You Are Good", "These Names Will Be Random And Confusing" and "Each Spell Costs Experience Levels".

What the table does reveal is a hint: hovering over an option shows one of the enchantments that option will apply (on mobile, tap the option before putting in the lapis lazuli). Glyph particles from the same font also fly from bookshelves to the table, but you cannot see them if the particles setting is Minimal.

To control which enchantments you get, skip the randomness and combine enchanted books on an anvil. See Enchanting Table Guide for bookshelves, levels and lapis, and run your exact build through the calculator to see the cheapest combine order.