Monklish

Monklish (sometimes spelled Monkelish[1]) is a writing system in the Bloons franchise that debuted in the Flash version of Bloons Monkey City. It is used most commonly to write hidden messages within Bloons games and promotional material. In Bloons TD 6, it is also a selectable "language" option that displays the game's English text in Monklish characters. Its name is a portmanteau of "monkey" and "English".
Overview
Monklish letters are a cipher of the Latin alphabet as it is used in English, but with no letter casing. Monklish numbers and punctuation are identical to English, except for exclamation and question marks, which have unique symbols. As such, Monklish text is essentially equivalent to English and, capitalization notwithstanding, text in one writing system can be transcribed to the other directly.
Most uses of Monklish in Bloons Monkey City and Bloons TD 6 appear to transcribe "th" digraphs as simply "T", such as "three" being transcribed as "TREE" and "thorns" being transcribed as "TORNS". Some Monklish writing in Bloons TD 6 appears to be misspelled due to certain glyphs being very similar to each other, such as the Monklish characters for "D" and "U" being the inverse of each other. Some Monklish text uses a horizontally inverted version of the "P" glyph, making it look more distinct from the "N" glyph.
As a language option
A language option for Monklish was added to Bloons TD 6 in version 33.0. It uses the same text as the English option, but it is displayed in a font that renders letters and exclamation/question marks in Monklish. Other punctuation marks and numbers are unaltered. Accented letters are rendered as their non-accented equivalents (e.g., Pouākai is rendered as "Pouakai").
List of uses
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Bloons Monkey City (Flash)
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Bloons TD 6
Background elements
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adora's Temple |
MAX SDN (horizontal) APEX DARK (vertical) |
"MAX SDN" seems to be a misspelling of of "MAX SUN" due to the Monklish glyphs for "U" and "D" being the inverse of each other. |
| Bazaar |
KL TEA CO (tea stall) CLOSED (building) |
|
| Midnight Mansion |
STOP (upper hallway) NOWAY (stairs) NOMONKE (lower hallway) |
|
| Middle of the Road |
END START (wooden sign) US (road sign) CHV (pickup truck) |
|
| Tinkerton |
TO DO (whiteboard front) SOLVE (whiteboard back) |
|
| Tricky Tracks |
ZOMG (Graffiti on left) ZJ WAS HERE (Graffiti on right) XLGAMER10 (middle track) VILLAINSEVEN (blocked track) |
"ZJ WAS HERE" refers to Zee Jay. "XLGAMER10" and "VILLAINSEVEN" refer to the creators of the original track, which was one of the winners of the BTD6 7 Year Anniversary Map Competition. |
Icons
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Icon of Scoop's Tall Tale |
[...]ERE IS [...]MONKEY? (headline) TALE (sticky notes) BE: SCOOP OUR BELOVED HERO IS BUSY [...]OUND THE (text) |
The full text of the headline may be "WHERE IS SUPERMONKEY?" |
| Icon of the Legends menu |
PORTALS |
Promotional images
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Promotional image for the Druid |
A GUARDIAN OF TE[sic] FOREST AND A WARRIOR OF NATURE (first line) ENEMY OF BLOONS (second line) TORNS[sic] (1) STORM (2) SPIRIT FOREST (polaroid) |
The "P" glyph is horizontally inverted. |
| Promotional image for Captain Churchill |
MY TANK IS AMAZING (blue sticky note) KABOOM! (yellow sticky note) |
|
| Promotional image for Race Events |
EIGHTEEN ONE TREE[sic] FIVE |
|
| Project ADHSV |
PROJECT ADHSV | The "P" glyph is horizontally inverted. |
Bloons TD Battles 2
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Precious Space |
A B C D E |
|
| COBRA Command |
Clan items
Cosmetic items
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Cream Monkey (Avatar Icon) |
ICE (uniform) [...]LE (sign) |
The sign text is partially obscured. The first two characters may be "S" and "A", reading "SALE". |
| Cyber Quincy Was 'Ere (Avatar Icon) |
THE CQ UPGRADE | "CQ" is likely short for "Cyber Quincy". |
| Badge of Honor (Avatar Icon) |
OFFICIAL CLUB MEMBER | |
| 3 Darts High and Popping (Avatar Icon) |
DE LA BEN (pink text) 3 DART POPS (green text) |
A reference to the album cover of 3 Feet High and Rising, which has similar text reading "DE LA SOUL" and "3 FEET HIGH AND RISING". The "P" glyph is horizontally inverted. |
| Wanted (Avatar Icon) |
WANTED FOR HIGHWAY ROBBERY! THE INFAMOUS HIGHWAYMAN JERICHO |
|
| Captain Scott (Avatar Icon) |
TRIP TO THE POLE | |
| Monster Movie (Avatar Icon) |
KING VS SENTAI (logo) WHO WILL WIN (right side) |
|
| Juggernaut Blueprint (Avatar Icon) |
Left side: RELOAD SPEED PIERCE RANGE HURLS A GIANT SPIKED BALL THAT POPS LEAD AND EXCELS AT CRUSHING CERAMIC BLOONS. Right side: |
Ninja Kiwi Blog
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Other
| Image | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Promotional image for Bloons TD Battles (mobile) v6.19 |
BAGGAGE CLAIM | — |
| "Choose a Path" icon in Bloons Card Storm |
FAR NAER[sic] | Presumably a misspelling of "near" and "far". |
| Reinflated card art in Bloons Card Storm |
REINFLATED | — |
| Quincy Action Figure card art in Bloons Card Storm |
SALE! | — |
| Corvus Academy of Arts card art in Bloons Card Storm |
CORVUS | — |
| Soulstealer Bloon card art in Bloons Card Storm |
SOULSTEALER | — |
| Surf Shack icon in Bloons Pop! |
SEA | — |
| Spooky Cauldron icon in Bloons Pop! |
AHU? | — |
References
- ↑ "Bloons TD 6 - Update Notes! Version 33.0". Reddit. Retrieved Fri, 11 Jul 2025.