Which language did J.R.R. Tolkien invent for the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings?

J.R.R. Tolkien invented the Black Speech for the Orcs and servants of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings. The language is associated especially with Mordor and was created as a deliberately harsh counterpart to the more refined Elvish languages.

The best-known example is the inscription on the One Ring, beginning “Ash nazg durbatulûk.” Tolkien gives a fuller form of the Black Speech in the Ring verse, which describes one ring ruling the others. The language appears only in limited surviving material rather than as a fully documented everyday tongue.

Black Speech should not be confused with Quenya or Sindarin, Tolkien’s principal Elvish languages. Adûnaic is the language of Númenor, while Orkish speech is often represented as a collection of related forms and dialects rather than one consistently developed language.