diff --git a/test/testcrypt.py b/test/testcrypt.py
index d21f19c7..b71f851d 100644
--- a/test/testcrypt.py
+++ b/test/testcrypt.py
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ method_prefixes = {
 }
 method_lists = {t: [] for t in method_prefixes}
 
+checked_enum_values = {}
+
 class Value(object):
     def __init__(self, typename, ident):
         self._typename = typename
@@ -182,7 +184,13 @@ def make_argword(arg, argtype, fnname, argindex, argname, to_preserve):
             "argon2flavour", "fptype", "httpdigesthash"}:
         arg = coerce_to_bytes(arg)
         if isinstance(arg, bytes) and b" " not in arg:
-            return arg
+            dictkey = (typename, arg)
+            if dictkey not in checked_enum_values:
+                retwords = childprocess.funcall("checkenum", [typename, arg])
+                assert len(retwords) == 1
+                checked_enum_values[dictkey] = (retwords[0] == b"ok")
+            if checked_enum_values[dictkey]:
+                return arg
     if typename == "mpint_list":
         sublist = [make_argword(len(arg), ("uint", False),
                                 fnname, argindex, argname, to_preserve)]
diff --git a/testcrypt.c b/testcrypt.c
index f6cb8517..68e2d11d 100644
--- a/testcrypt.c
+++ b/testcrypt.c
@@ -623,6 +623,25 @@ static void handle_mp_dump(BinarySource *in, strbuf *out)
     put_byte(out, '\n');
 }
 
+static void handle_checkenum(BinarySource *in, strbuf *out)
+{
+    ptrlen type = get_word(in);
+    ptrlen value = get_word(in);
+    bool ok = false;
+
+    #define BEGIN_ENUM_TYPE(name) \
+    if (ptrlen_eq_string(type, #name))                  \
+        ok = enum_translate_##name(value, NULL);
+    #define ENUM_VALUE(name, value)
+    #define END_ENUM_TYPE(name)
+    #include "testcrypt-enum.h"
+    #undef BEGIN_ENUM_TYPE
+    #undef ENUM_VALUE
+    #undef END_ENUM_TYPE
+
+    put_dataz(out, ok ? "ok\n" : "bad\n");
+}
+
 static void random_queue(ptrlen pl)
 {
     bufchain_add(&random_data_queue, pl.ptr, pl.len);
@@ -1356,6 +1375,7 @@ static void process_line(BinarySource *in, strbuf *out)
     DISPATCH_COMMAND(getstring);
     DISPATCH_COMMAND(mp_literal);
     DISPATCH_COMMAND(mp_dump);
+    DISPATCH_COMMAND(checkenum);
 #undef DISPATCH_COMMAND
 
 #define FUNC_INNER(outtype, fname, realname, args)      \