Blend ofคน(kon,“person”) +ไร(rai,“what”).[1]
Compare the dialectalไผ(pǎi), fromProto-Tai*pʰaɰᴬ, from which the following are also derived:Northern Thaiᨹᩲ;Isanใผ,ไผ;Laoໃຜ(phai);Lüᦺᦕ(ṗhay);Shanၽႂ်(phǎue);Tai Nüaᥚᥬᥴ(pháue);Aitonၸၞ်(phaü);Ahom𑜇𑜧(phaw),𑜇𑜨𑜧(phow);Zhuangbyawz.
ใคร• (krai)
- (interrogative)who;which person;what person?
- whoever;anyone;someone;everyone;they (people in general).
- ใครก็ช่วยไม่ได้
- krai gɔ̂ chûai mâi dâai
- Noone can help.
(literally)Whoever [they are], [they] cannot help.
- ถามใครก็บอกว่า...
- tǎamkrai gɔ̂ bɔ̀ɔk wâa ...
- [I] askedeveryone [and they] told [me] that...
- ไม่อยากกวนใคร
- mâi yàak guuankrai
- [I] don't want to disturbanyone.
- person;one.
- ใครบางคน
- krai baang-kon
- someperson; someone
- ^วรรณไวทยากร, พระเจ้าวรวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้า (1939), “ศัพทาธิบาย”, inJournal of the Siam Society[1] (in Thai), volume31, number 2,กรุงเทพฯ: Siam Society, page39
- “ใคร” inThai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online atSEAlang.net.
