| Thai อักษรไทย | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
| Creator | Ramkhamhaeng the Great |
Time period | 1283–present |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Standard form: Thai,Southern Thai Non-standard form: Lanna,Isan,Phu Thai,Pattani Malay,Urak Lawoi,Phuan and others |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Tai Viet |
Sister systems | Fakkham |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Thai(352), Thai |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Thai |
| U+0E00–U+0E7F | |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| TheBrahmi script and its descendants |
|
TheThai script (Thai:อักษรไทย,RTGS: akson thai,pronounced[ʔàksɔ̌ːntʰāj]) is theabugida used to writeThai,Southern Thai and many other languages spoken inThailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44consonant symbols (Thai:พยัญชนะ,phayanchana), 16vowel symbols (Thai:สระ,sara) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms, fourtone diacritics (Thai:วรรณยุกต์ orวรรณยุต,wannayuk orwannayut), and otherdiacritics.
Although commonly referred to as theThai alphabet, the script is not a truealphabet but anabugida, a writing system in which the full characters represent consonants with diacritical marks for vowels; the absence of a vowel diacritic gives an implied 'a' or 'o'. Consonants arewritten horizontally from left to right, and vowels following a consonant in speech are written above, below, to the left or to the right of it, or a combination of those.
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The Thai script is derived from theSukhothai script, which itself is derived from the OldKhmer script (Thai:อักษรขอม,akson khom), which is a southernBrahmic style of writing derived from the south IndianPallava alphabet (Thai:ปัลลวะ). According to tradition it was created in 1283 by KingRam Khamhaeng the Great (Thai:พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช).[1] The earliest attestation of the Thai script is theRam Khamhaeng Inscription dated to 1292, however some scholars question its authenticity.[2] The script was derived from a cursive form of the Old Khmer script of the time.[1] It modified and simplified some of the Old Khmer letters and introduced some new ones to accommodate Thai phonology. It also introduced tone marks.
Thai is considered to be the first script in the world that inventedtone markers to indicate distinctive tones, which are lacking in the Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic languages),Dravidian languages andIndo-Aryan languages from which its script is derived or partly influenced. Although Chinese and otherSino-Tibetan languages have distinctive tones in their phonological system, no tone marker is found in their orthographies. Thus, tone markers are an innovation in the Thai language that later influenced other related Tai languages and someTibeto-Burman languages on theMainland Southeast Asia.[2] Another addition was consonant clusters that were written horizontally and contiguously, rather than writing the second consonant below the first one.[2] Finally, the script wrote vowel marks on the main line, however this innovation fell out of use not long after.[1]
There is a fairly complex relationship between spelling and sound. There are various issues:
Thai letters do not haveupper- and lower-case forms likeLatin letters do. Spaces between wordsare not used, except in certain linguistically motivated cases.
Minor pauses in sentencesmay be marked by a comma (Thai:จุลภาค orลูกน้ำ,chunlaphak orluk nam), and major pauses by a period (Thai:มหัพภาค orจุด,mahap phak orchut), but most often are marked by a blank space (Thai:วรรค,wak). Thai writing also uses quotation marks (Thai:อัญประกาศ,anyaprakat) and parentheses (round brackets) (Thai:วงเล็บ,wong lep orThai:นขลิขิต,nakha likhit), but not square brackets or braces.
Apaiyan noiฯ (Thai:ไปยาลน้อย) is used for abbreviation. Apaiyan yaiฯลฯ (Thai:ไปยาลใหญ่) is the same as "etc." in English.
Several obsolete characters indicated the beginning or ending of sections. A bird's eye๏ (Thai:ตาไก่,ta kai, officially calledฟองมัน,fong man) formerly indicated paragraphs. Anangkhan kuu๚ (Thai:อังคั่นคู่) was formerly used to mark the end of achapter. Akho mut๛ (Thai:โคมูตร) was formerly used to mark the end of adocument, but is now obsolete.
Thai (along with its sister system, Lao) lacks conjunct consonants and independent vowels, while both designs are common among Brahmic scripts (e.g.,Burmese andBalinese).[4] In scripts with conjunct consonants, each consonant has two forms: base and conjoined.Consonant clusters are represented with the two styles of consonants. The two styles may formtypographical ligatures, as inDevanagari. Independent vowels are used when a syllable starts with a vowel sign.
There are 44 consonant letters representing 21 distinct consonant sounds. Duplicate consonants either correspond to sounds that existed inOld Thai at the time the alphabet was created but no longer exist (in particular,voicedobstruents such asd), or differentSanskrit andPali consonants pronounced identically in Thai. There are in addition four consonant-vowel combination characters not included in the tally of 44.
Consonants are divided into three classes — in alphabetical order these are middle (กลาง,klang), high (สูง,sung), and low (ต่ำ,tam) class — as shown in the table below. These class designations reflect phonetic qualities of the sounds to which the letters originally corresponded in Old Thai. In particular, "middle" sounds werevoiceless unaspiratedstops; "high" sounds, voicelessaspirated stops or voicelessfricatives; "low" sounds, voiced. Subsequent sound changes have obscured the phonetic nature of these classes.[nb 1] Today, the class of a consonant without a tone mark, along with the short or long length of the accompanying vowel, determine the base accent (พื้นเสียง,phuen siang). Middle class consonants with a long vowel spell an additional four tones with one of four tone marks over the controlling consonant:mai ek,mai tho,mai tri, andmai chattawa. High and low class consonants are limited tomai ek andmai tho, as shown in theTone table. Differing interpretations of the two marks or their absence allow low class consonants to spell tones not allowed for the corresponding high class consonant. In the case of digraphs where a low class follows a higher class consonant, often the higher class rules apply, but the marker, if used, goes over the low class one; accordingly,ห นำho nam andอ นำo nam may be considered to be digraphs as such, as explained below the Tone table.[nb 2]
To aid learning, each consonant is traditionally associated with anacrophonic Thai word that either starts with the same sound, or features it prominently. For example, the name of the letterข iskho khai (ข ไข่), in whichkho is the sound it represents, andkhai (ไข่) is a word which starts with the same sound and means "egg".
Two of the consonants,ฃ (kho khuat) andฅ (kho khon), are no longer used in written Thai, but still appear on many keyboards and in character sets. When the firstThai typewriter was developed byEdwin Hunter McFarland in 1892, there was simply no space for all characters, thus two had to be left out.[5] Also, neither of these two letters correspond to a Sanskrit or Pali letter, and each of them, being a modified form of the letter that precedes it (compareข andค), has the same pronunciation and the same consonant class as the preceding letter, thus making them redundant. They used to represent the sound/x/ in Old Thai, but it has merged with/kʰ/ in Modern Thai.
Equivalents forromanisation are shown in the table below. Many consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning and at the end of a syllable. The entries in columnsinitial andfinal indicate the pronunciation for that consonant in the corresponding positions in a syllable. Where the entry is '-', the consonant may not be used to close a syllable. Where a combination of consonants ends a written syllable, only the first is pronounced; possible closing consonant sounds are limited to 'k', 'm', 'n', 'ng', 'p' and 't'.
Although official standards for romanisation are theRoyal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) defined by the Royal Thai Institute, and the almost identicalISO 11940-2 defined by theInternational Organization for Standardization, many publications use different romanisation systems. In daily practice, a bewildering variety of romanisations are used, making it difficult to know how to pronounce a word, or to judge if two words (e.g. on a map and a street sign) are actually the same. For more precise information, an equivalent from theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is given as well.
| Symbol | Name | RTGS | IPA | Class | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | Meaning | Initial | Final | Initial | Final | ||
| ก | ก ไก่ | ko kai | chicken | k | k | /k/ | /k/ | mid |
| ข | ข ไข่ | kho khai | egg | kh | k | /kʰ/ | /k/ | high |
| ฃ[a] | ฃ ขวด | kho khuat | bottle (obsolete) | kh | k | /kʰ/ | /k/ | high |
| ค | ค ควาย | kho khwai | buffalo | kh | k | /kʰ/ | /k/ | low |
| ฅ[b] | ฅ คน | kho khon | person (obsolete) | kh | k | /kʰ/ | /k/ | low |
| ฆ | ฆ ระฆัง | kho rakhang | bell | kh | k | /kʰ/ | /k/ | low |
| ง | ง งู | ngo ngu | snake | ng | ng | /ŋ/ | /ŋ/ | low |
| จ | จ จาน | cho chan | plate | ch | t | /tɕ/ | /t/ | mid |
| ฉ | ฉ ฉิ่ง | cho ching | cymbals | ch | – | /tɕʰ/ | – | high |
| ช | ช ช้าง | cho chang | elephant | ch | t | /tɕʰ/ | /t/ | low |
| ซ | ซ โซ่ | so so | chain | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | low |
| ฌ | ฌ เฌอ | cho choe | tree | ch | t | /tɕʰ/ | /t/ | low |
| ญ[c] | ญ หญิง | yo ying | woman | y | n | /j/ | /n/ | low |
| ฎ | ฎ ชฎา | do chada | headdress | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
| ฏ | ฏ ปฏัก | to patak | goad,javelin, spear | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
| ฐ[d] | ฐ ฐาน | tho than | pedestal | th | t | /tʰ/ | /t/ | high |
| ฑ | ฑ มณโฑ | tho montho | Montho, character fromRamayana | th or d | t | /tʰ/ or/d/ | /t/ | low |
| ฒ | ฒ ผู้เฒ่า | tho phu thao | elder | th | t | /tʰ/ | /t/ | low |
| ณ | ณ เณร | no nen | samanera | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
| ด | ด เด็ก | do dek | child | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
| ต | ต เต่า | to tao | turtle | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
| ถ | ถ ถุง | tho thung | sack | th | t | /tʰ/ | /t/ | high |
| ท | ท ทหาร | tho thahan | soldier | th | t | /tʰ/ | /t/ | low |
| ธ | ธ ธง | tho thong | flag | th | t | /tʰ/ | /t/ | low |
| น | น หนู | no nu | mouse | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
| บ | บ ใบไม้ | bo baimai | leaf | b | p | /b/ | /p/ | mid |
| ป | ป ปลา | po pla | fish | p | p | /p/ | /p/ | mid |
| ผ | ผ ผึ้ง | pho phueng | bee | ph | – | /pʰ/ | – | high |
| ฝ | ฝ ฝา | fo fa | lid | f | – | /f/ | – | high |
| พ | พ พาน | pho phan | phan | ph | p | /pʰ/ | /p/ | low |
| ฟ | ฟ ฟัน | fo fan | tooth | f | p | /f/ | /p/ | low |
| ภ | ภ สำเภา | pho samphao | junk | ph | p | /pʰ/ | /p/ | low |
| ม | ม ม้า | mo ma | horse | m | m | /m/ | /m/ | low |
| ย | ย ยักษ์ | yo yak | giant,yaksha | y | – or n[e] | /j/ | /j/ or/n/ | low |
| ร | ร เรือ | ro ruea | boat | r | n | /r/ | /n/ | low |
| ล | ล ลิง | lo ling | monkey | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
| ว | ว แหวน | wo waen | ring | w | –[f] | /w/ | /w/ | low |
| ศ | ศ ศาลา | so sala | pavilion,sala | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
| ษ | ษ ฤๅษี | so ruesi | hermit | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
| ส | ส เสือ | so suea | tiger | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
| ห | ห หีบ | ho hip | chest, box | h | – | /h/ | – | high |
| ฬ | ฬ จุฬา | lo chula | kite | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
| อ | อ อ่าง | o ang | basin, tub | –[g] | – | /ʔ/ | – | mid |
| ฮ | ฮ นกฮูก | ho nok huk | owl | h | – | /h/ | – | low |
The consonants can be organised byplace andmanner of articulation according to principles of theInternational Phonetic Association.Thai distinguishes among three voice/aspiration patterns for plosive consonants:
Where English has only a distinction between the voiced, unaspirated/b/ and the unvoiced, aspirated/pʰ/, Thai distinguishes a third sound which is neither voiced nor aspirated, which occurs in English only as an allophone of/p/, approximately the sound of thep in "spin". There is similarly a laminal denti-alveolar/t/,/tʰ/,/d/ triplet. In the velar series there is a/k/,/kʰ/ pair and in the postalveolar series the/tɕ/,/tɕʰ/ pair.
In each cell below, the first line indicatesInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA),[6] the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation). The conventional alphabetic order shown in the table above follows roughly the table below, reading the coloured blocks from right to left and top to bottom.
| Bilabial | Labio- dental | Dental/Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | [m] ม | [n] ณ, น | [ŋ] ง | |||||||||||
| Plosive | [p] ป | [pʰ] ผ, พ, ภ | [b] บ | [t] ฏ, ต | [tʰ] ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ | [d] ฎ, ด | [k] ก | [kʰ] ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ[a] | [ʔ] อ[b] | |||||
| Affricate | [t͡ɕ] จ | [t͡ɕʰ] ฉ, ช, ฌ | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | [f] ฝ, ฟ | [s] ซ, ศ, ษ, ส | [h] ห, ฮ | |||||||||||
| Trill | [r] ร | |||||||||||||
| Approximant | [w] ว | [j] ญ, ย | ||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | [l] ล, ฬ | |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Although the overall 44 Thai consonants provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. The consonant sounds in the table for initials collapse in the table for final sounds. At the end of a syllable, all plosives are unvoiced, unaspirated, and have no audible release. Initial affricates and fricatives become final plosives. The initial trill (ร), approximant (ญ), and lateral approximants (ล,ฬ) are realized as a final nasal/n/.
Only 8 ending consonant sounds, as well as no ending consonant sound, are available in Thai pronunciation. Among these consonants, excluding the disusedฃ andฅ, six (ฉ,ผ,ฝ,ห,อ,ฮ) cannot be used as a final. The remaining 36 are grouped as following.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | [m] ม | [n] ณ, น,ญ,ร,ล,ฬ | [ŋ] ง | |||||
| Plosive | [p̚] บ, ป, พ,ฟ, ภ | [t̚] จ,ช,ซ,ฌ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ,ศ,ษ,ส | [k̚] ก, ข, ค, ฆ | [ʔ] อ[a] | ||||
| Approximant | [w] ว | [j] ย | ||||||
| ||||||||
Thai vowel sounds and diphthongs are written using a mixture of vowel symbols on a consonant base. Each vowel is shown in its correct position relative to a base consonant and sometimes a final consonant as well. Vowels can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant, or combinations of these places. If a vowel has parts before and after the initial consonant, and the syllable starts with a consonant cluster, the split will go around the whole cluster.
Twenty-one vowel symbol elements are traditionally named, which may appear alone or in combination to form compound symbols.
| Symbol | Name | Combinations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | ||
| ะ | วิสรรชนีย์, นมนาง | wisanchani, nom nang (from Sanskritvisarjanīya) | ◌ะ; ◌ัวะ; เ◌ะ; เ◌อะ; เ◌าะ; เ◌ียะ; เ◌ือะ; แ◌ะ; โ◌ะ |
| ◌ั | ไม้หันอากาศ, ไม้ผัด, หางกังหัน | mai han akat, mai phat, mai kanghan | ◌ั◌;◌ัว;◌ัวะ |
| ◌็ | ไม้ไต่คู้ | mai tai khu | ◌็;◌็อ◌; เ◌็◌; แ◌็◌ |
| า | ลากข้าง | lak khang | ◌า; ◌า◌; ◌ํา; เ◌า; เ◌าะ |
| ◌ิ | พินทุ์อิ, พินทุอิ | phin i, phinthu i | ◌ิ; เ◌ิ◌;◌ี;◌ี◌; เ◌ีย; เ◌ียะ;◌ื◌;◌ือ; เ◌ือ; เ◌ือะ |
| ◌̍ | ฝนทอง | fon thong[a] | ◌ี;◌ี◌; เ◌ีย; เ◌ียะ |
| ◌̎ | ฟันหนู, มูสิกทันต์ | fan nu[a] | ◌ื◌;◌ือ; เ◌ือ; เ◌ือะ |
| ◌ํ | นิคหิต, นฤคหิต, หยาดน้ำค้าง | nikkhahit, naruekhahit, yat namkhang | ◌ึ;◌ึ◌;◌ํา |
| ◌ุ | ตีนเหยียด, ลากตีน | tin yiat, lak tin | ◌ุ;◌ุ◌ |
| ◌ู | ตีนคู้ | tin khu | ◌ู;◌ู◌ |
| เ | ไม้หน้า | mai na | เ◌;เ◌◌;เ◌็◌;เ◌อ;เ◌อ◌;เ◌อะ;เ◌า;เ◌าะ;เ◌ิ◌;เ◌ีย;เ◌ีย◌;เ◌ียะ;เ◌ือ;เ◌ือ◌;เ◌ือะ;แ◌;แ◌◌;แ◌็◌;แ◌ะ |
| โ | ไม้โอ | mai o | โ◌;โ◌◌;โ◌ะ |
| ใ | ไม้ม้วน | mai muan | ใ◌ |
| ไ | ไม้มลาย | mai malai | ไ◌ |
| อ | ตัว อ | tua o | ◌อ; ◌็อ◌; ◌ือ; เ◌อ; เ◌อ◌; เ◌อะ; เ◌ือ; เ◌ือะ |
| ย | ตัว ย | tua yo | เ◌ีย; เ◌ีย◌; เ◌ียะ |
| ว | ตัว ว | tua wo | ◌ัว; ◌ัวะ |
| ฤ | ตัว ฤ | tua rue | ฤ |
| ฤๅ | ตัว ฤๅ | tua rue | ฤๅ |
| ฦ | ตัว ฦ | tua lue | ฦ |
| ฦๅ | ตัว ฦๅ | tua lue | ฦๅ |
| |||
Theinherent vowels are/a/ inopen syllables (CV) and/o/ inclosed syllables (CVC). For example,ถนน transcribes/tʰànǒn/ "road". There are a few exceptions in Pali loanwords, where the inherent vowel of an open syllable is/ɔː/. Thecircumfix vowels, such asเ–าะ/ɔʔ/, encompass a preceding consonant with an inherent vowel. For example,/pʰɔʔ/ is writtenเพาะ, and/tɕʰapʰɔʔ/ "only" is writtenเฉพาะ.
The charactersฤ ฤๅ (plusฦ ฦๅ, which are obsolete) are usually considered as vowels, the first being a short vowel sound, and the latter, long. The letters are based on vocalic consonants used in Sanskrit, given the one-to-one letter correspondence of Thai to Sanskrit, although the last two letters are quite rare, as their equivalent Sanskrit sounds only occur in a few, ancient words and thus are functionally obsolete in Thai. The first symbol 'ฤ' is common in many Sanskrit and Pali words and 'ฤๅ' less so, but does occur as the primary spelling for the Thai adaptation of Sanskrit 'rishi' andtreu (Thai:ตฤๅ/trɯ̄ː/ or/trīː/), a very rare Khmer loan word for 'fish' only found in ancient poetry. As alphabetical entries, ฤ ฤๅ followร, and themselves can be read as a combination of consonant and vowel, equivalent to รึ (short), and รือ (long) (and the obsolete pair as ลึ, ลือ), respectively. Moreover,ฤ can act asริ as an integral part in many words mostly borrowed fromSanskrit such as กฤษณะ (kritsana, notkruetsana),ฤทธิ์ (rit, notruet), and กฤษดา (kritsada, notkruetsada), for example. It is also used to spell อังกฤษangkrit England/English. The wordฤกษ์ (roek) is a unique case whereฤ is pronounced likeเรอ. In the past, prior to the turn of the twentieth century, it was common for writers to substitute these letters in native vocabulary that contained similar sounds as a shorthand that was acceptable in writing at the time. For example, the conjunction 'or' (Thai:หรือ/rɯ̌ː/rue, cf.Lao:ຫຼຶ/ຫລື/lɯ̌ː/lu) was often writtenThai:ฤ. This practice has become obsolete, but can still be seen in Thai literature.
The pronunciation below is indicated by theInternational Phonetic Alphabet[6] and the Romanisation according to theRoyal Thai Institute as well as several variant Romanisations often encountered. A very approximate equivalent is given for various regions of English speakers and surrounding areas. Dotted circles represent the positions of consonants or consonant clusters. The first one represents the initial consonant and the latter (if it exists) represents the final.
Ro han (ร หัน) is not usually considered a vowel and is not included in the following table. It represents thesara a/a/ vowel in certain Sanskrit loanwords and appears as ◌รร◌. When used without a final consonant (◌รร),/n/ is implied as the final consonant, giving/an/.
| Short vowels | Long vowels | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) | Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) | |||
| Simple vowels | ||||||||||||||
| สระอะ | sara a | ◌ะ ◌ ◌ั◌ | /aʔ/,/a/ | a | u | u in "nut" | สระอา | sara a | ◌า ◌า◌ | /aː/ | a | ah, ar, aa | a in "father" | |
| สระอิ | sara i | ◌ิ ◌ิ◌ | /i/ | i | y in "greedy" | สระอี | sara i | ◌ี ◌ี◌ | /iː/ | i | ee, ii, y | ee in "see" | ||
| สระอึ | sara ue | ◌ึ ◌ึ◌ | /ɯ/ | ue | eu, u, uh | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in "look" with unrounded lips | สระอือ | sara ue | ◌ือ ◌ื◌ | /ɯː/ | ue | eu, u | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in RP "goose" with unrounded lips | |
| สระอุ | sara u | ◌ุ ◌ุ◌ | /u/ | u | oo | oo in "shoot" | สระอู | sara u | ◌ู ◌ู◌ | /uː/ | u | oo, uu | oo in "too" | |
| สระเอะ | sara e | เ◌ะ เ◌็◌ | /eʔ/,/e/ | e | e in "neck" | สระเอ | sara e | เ◌ เ◌◌ | /eː/ | e | ay, a, ae, ai, ei | a in "lame" | ||
| สระแอะ | sara ae | แ◌ะ แ◌็◌ | /ɛʔ/,/ɛ/ | ae | aeh, a | a in "at" | สระแอ | sara ae | แ◌ แ◌◌ | /ɛː/ | ae | a | a in "ham" | |
| สระโอะ | sara o | โ◌ะ ◌◌ | /oʔ/,/o/ | o | oa in "boat" | สระโอ | sara o | โ◌ โ◌◌ | /oː/ | o | or, oh, ô | o in "go" | ||
| สระเอาะ | sara o | เ◌าะ ◌็อ◌ | /ɔʔ/,/ɔ/ | o | aw | o in "not" | สระออ | sara o | ◌อ ◌อ◌ ◌◌[a] ◌็[b] | /ɔː/ | o | or, aw | aw in "saw" | |
| สระเออะ | sara oe | เ◌อะ | /ɤʔ/ | oe | eu | e in "the" | สระเออ | sara oe | เ◌อ เ◌ิ◌ เ◌อ◌[c] | /ɤː/ /ɤ/ | oe | er, eu, ur | u in "burn" | |
| Diphthongs | ||||||||||||||
| สระเอียะ | sara ia | เ◌ียะ | /iaʔ/ | ia | iah, ear, ie | ea in "ear" with glottal stop | สระเอีย | sara ia | เ◌ีย เ◌ีย◌ | /ia/ | ia | ear, ere, ie | ear in "ear" | |
| สระเอือะ | sara uea | เ◌ือะ | /ɯaʔ/ | uea | eua, ua | ure in "pure" | สระเอือ | sara uea | เ◌ือ เ◌ือ◌ | /ɯa/ | uea | eua, ua, ue | ure in "pure" | |
| สระอัวะ | sara ua | ◌ัวะ | /uaʔ/ | ua | ewe in "sewer" | สระอัว | sara ua | ◌ัว ◌ว◌ | /ua/ | ua | uar | ewe in "newer" | ||
| Phonemic diphthongs[d] | ||||||||||||||
| สระอิ + ว | sara i + wo waen | ◌ิว | /iw/ | io | iu, ew | ew in "few" | ||||||||
| สระเอะ + ว | sara e + wo waen | เ◌็ว | /ew/ | eo | eu, ew | สระเอ + ว | sara e + wo waen | เ◌ว | /eːw/ | eo | eu, ew | ai + ow in "rainbow" | ||
| สระแอ + ว | sara ae + wo waen | แ◌ว | /ɛːw/ | aeo | aew, eo | a in "ham" + ow in "low" | ||||||||
| สระเอา | sara ao[e] | เ◌า | /aw/ | ao | aw, au, ow | ow in "cow" | สระอา + ว | sara a + wo waen | ◌าว | /aːw/ | ao | au | ow in "now" | |
| สระเอีย + ว | sara ia + wo waen | เ◌ียว | /iaw/ | iao | eaw, iew, iow | io in "trio" | ||||||||
| สระอะ + ย | sara a + yo yak | ◌ัย | /aj/ | ai | ay | i in "hi" | สระอา + ย | sara a + yo yak | ◌าย | /aːj/ | ai | aai, aay, ay | ye in "bye" | |
| สระไอ | sara ai[e] | ใ◌,[f] ไ◌ ไ◌ย[g] | ||||||||||||
| สระเอาะ + ย | sara o + yo yak | ◌็อย | /ɔj/ | oi | oy | สระออ + ย | sara o + yo yak | ◌อย | /ɔːj/ | oi | oy | oy in "boy" | ||
| สระโอ + ย | sara o + yo yak | โ◌ย | /oːj/ | oi | oy | |||||||||
| สระอุ + ย | sara u + yo yak | ◌ุย | /uj/ | ui | uy | |||||||||
| สระเออ + ย | sara oe + yo yak | เ◌ย | /ɤːj/ | oei | oey | u in "burn" + y in "boy" | ||||||||
| สระอัว + ย | sara ua + yo yak | ◌วย | /uaj/ | uai | uay | uoy in "buoy" | ||||||||
| สระเอือ + ย | sara uea + yo yak | เ◌ือย | /ɯaj/ | ueai | uai | |||||||||
| Extra vowels[h] | ||||||||||||||
| สระอำ | sara am | ำ | /am/ | am | um | um in "sum" | ||||||||
| ฤ | rue | ฤ | /rɯ/ /ri/ /rɤː/ | rue, ri, roe | ru, ri | rew in "grew", ry in "angry" | ฤๅ | rue | ฤๅ | /rɯː/ | rue | ruu | ||
| ฦ | lue | ฦ | /lɯ/ | lue | lu, li | lew in "blew" | ฦๅ | Lue | ฦๅ | /lɯː/ | lue | lu | ||
Central Thai is atonal language, and the script gives full information on thetones. Tones are realised in the vowels, but indicated in the script by a combination of the class of the initial consonant (high, mid or low),vowel length (long or short), closing consonant (plosive orsonorant, calleddead orlive) and, if present, one of four tone marks, whose names derive from the names of the digits1–4 borrowed from Pali or Sanskrit. The rules for denoting tones are shown in the following chart:
| Symbol | Name | Syllable composition and initial consonant class | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | Vowel and final | Low | Mid | High | |
| (ไม่มี) | (none) | live long vowel or vowel plus sonorant | middle | middle | rising | |
| (ไม่มี) | (none) | dead short short vowel at end or plus plosive | high | low | low | |
| (ไม่มี) | (none) | dead long long vowel plus plosive | falling | low | low | |
| ่ | ไม้เอก | mai ek | any | falling | low | low |
| ้ | ไม้โท | mai tho | any | high | falling | falling |
| ๊ | ไม้ตรี | mai tri | any | - | high | - |
| ๋ | ไม้จัตวา | mai chattawa | any | - | rising | - |
"None", that is, no tone marker, is used with the base accent (พื้นเสียง,phuen siang).Mai tri andmai chattawa are only used with mid-class consonants.
Two consonant characters (not diacritics) are used to modify the tone:
| Low consonant | High consonant | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| ง | หง | /ŋ/ |
| ญ | หญ | /j/ |
| น | หน | /n/ |
| ม | หม | /m/ |
| ย | หย | /j/ |
| ร | หร | /r/ |
| ล | หล | /l/ |
| ว | หว | /w/ |
| Low consonant | Middle consonant | IPA |
| ย | อย | /j/ |
In some dialects there are words which are spelled with one tone but pronounced with another and often occur in informal conversation (notably the pronouns ฉันchan and เขาkhao, which are both pronounced with a high tone rather than the rising tone indicated by the script). Generally, when such words are recited or read in public, they are pronounced as spelled.
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Although the Southern Thai writing form also gives full information on the tones as does Central Thai, the language itself ispitch-accent language, spoken form can have up to seven tones.[7] When Southern Thai is written in Thai script, there are different rules for indicating spoken tone.
| Tones | Nakhon Si Thammarat accent rules | IPA | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First tone | An initial consonant class "high" with long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. | [˦˥˧] | ||
| An initial consonant class "high" with short sound, and an initial consonant class "low" with [k̚], [t̚], [p̚] finals after the word. | [˨˦] | |||
| Second tone | An initial consonant class "high" both short long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. | [˦] | ||
| Third tone | An initial consonant class "middle" long sound. | [˧˦˧] | ||
| An initial consonant class "middle" short sound with [k̚], [t̚], [p̚] finals. | [˧˦] | |||
| Fourth tone | An initial consonant class "middle" both short long sound. | [˧] | ||
| Fifth tone | An initial consonant class "low" with head word. | [˨˧˨] | ||
| Sixth tone | An initial consonant class "low" long sound. | [˨˦] | ||
| Seventh tone | An initial consonant class "low" short sound. | [˨˩] | ||
Other diacritics are used to indicate short vowels and silent letters:
| Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | ||
| ◌็ | ไม้ไต่คู้ | mai tai khu | shortens vowel |
| ◌์ | ทัณฑฆาต or การันต์ | thanthakhat orkaran | indicates silent letter |
Fan nu means "rat teeth" and is thought as being placed in combination with shortsara i andfong man to form other characters.
| Symbol | Name | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | ||
| " | ฟันหนู | fan nu | combined with shortsara i (◌ิ) to make longsara ue (◌ื) |
| combined withfong man (๏) to makefong man fan nu (๏") | |||
For numerals, mostly the standardHindu-Arabic numerals (Thai:เลขฮินดูอารบิก,lek hindu arabik) are used, but Thai also has its own set ofThai numerals that are based on the Hindu-Arabic numeral system (Thai:เลขไทย,lek thai), which are mostly limited to government documents, election posters, license plates of military vehicles, and special entry prices for Thai nationals.
| Hindu-Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ |
| Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | RTGS | ||
| ฯ | ไปยาลน้อย | paiyan noi | marks formal phrase shortened byconvention (abbreviation) |
| ฯลฯ | ไปยาลใหญ่ | paiyan yai | et cetera |
| ๆ | ไม้ยมก | mai yamok | preceding word or phrase isreduplicated |
| ๏ | ฟองมัน, ตาไก่ | fong man,ta kai | previously marked beginning of a sentence, paragraph, or stanza (obsolete);[8] now only marks beginning of a stanza in a poem; now also used asbullet point[9] |
| ๏" | ฟองมันฟันหนู, ฟันหนูฟองมัน, ฝนทองฟองมัน | fong man fan nu,fan nu fong man,fon tong fong man | previously marked beginning of a chapter (obsolete) |
| ๐" | ฟองดัน | fong dan | |
| ฯ | อังคั่นเดี่ยว, คั่นเดี่ยว, ขั้นเดี่ยว | angkhan diao,khan diao,khan diao | previously marked end of a sentence or stanza (obsolete)[8] |
| ๚ | อังคั่นคู่, คั่นคู่, ขั้นคู่ | angkhan khu,khan khu,khan khu | marks end of stanza; marks end of chapter[8] or long section[9] |
| ฯะ | อังคั่นวิสรรชนีย์ | angkhan wisanchani | marks end of a stanza in a poem[9] |
| ๚ะ | |||
| ๛ | โคมูตร, สูตรนารายณ์ | kho mut,sut narai | marks end of a chapter or document;[9] marks end of a story[8] |
| ๚ะ๛ | อังคั่นวิสรรชนีย์โคมูตร | angkhan wisanchani kho mut | marks the very end of a written work |
| ฿ | บาท | bat | baht (thecurrency of Thailand) |
Pai-yan noi andangkhan diao share the same character.Sara a (–ะ) used in combination with other characters is calledwisanchani.
Some of the characters can mark the beginning or end of a sentence, chapter, or episode of a story or of a stanza in a poem. These have changed use over time and are becoming uncommon.
| ก | ข | ฃ | ค | ฅ | ฆ | ง | |
| จ | ฉ | ช | ซ | ฌ | ญ | ||
| ฎ | ฏ | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ||
| ด | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | ||
| บ | ป | ผ | ฝ | พ | ฟ | ภ | ม |
| ย, ร, ล, ว | ศ, ษ, ส | ห | ฬ | อ | ฮ | ||
| Colour | Class |
|---|---|
| Green | Medium |
| Pink | High |
| Blue | Paired low class; has its high class counterpart |
| Purple | Single low class; turns into high class if preceded by ห |
| ก, ข, ฃ ค, ฅ, ฆ | /k/ | จ, ฉ, ช, ซ, ฌ ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ,ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ,ศ, ษ, ส | /t/ | บ, ป, ผ, ฝ พ, ฟ, ภ | /p/ |
| ง | /ŋ/ | ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล | /n/ | ม | /m/ |
| อ | /ʔ/ | ย | /j/ | ว | /w/ |
colour codes
red: dead
green: alive
| -ิ,-ี | -ึ,-ื | -ุ,-ู | |
| เ- | เ-อ | โ- | *โ- > โ-, – |
| แ- | ะ,า | -อ | *-อ > เ-าะ, -็อ |
| เ-ีย | เ-ือ | -ัว | |
| -ำ | ใ- | ไ- | เ-า |
| ฤ | ฤๅ | ฦ | ฦา |
colour codes
pink: long vowel, shortened by add "ะ"(no ending consonant) or "-็"(with ending consonant)
green: long vowel, has a special form when shortened
| position | front | central | back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| duration | short | long | short | long | short | long |
| high | -ิ /i/ | -ี /iː/ | -ึ /ɯ/ | -ือ,-ื /ɯː/ | -ุ /u/ | -ู /uː/ |
| mid | เ-ะ,เ-็ /e/ | เ- /eː/ | เ-อะ /ɤʔ/ | เ-อ,เ-ิ /ɤː/ | โ-ะ,-- /o/ | โ- /oː/ |
| low | แ-ะ,แ-็ /ɛ/ | แ- /ɛː/ | -ะ,-ั /a/ | -า /aː/ | เ-าะ,-็อ /ɔ/ | -อ /ɔː/ |
| vowel+/a/ | เ-ียะ /iaʔ/ | เ-ีย /ia/ | เ-ือะ /ɯaʔ/ | เ-ือ /ɯa/ | -ัวะ /uaʔ/ | -ัว /ua/ |
| /a/+vowel | ไ- ใ- /aj/ | -าย /aːj/ | -ำ /am/ | -าม /aːm/ | เ-า /aw/ | -าว /aːw/ |
| class | ending | none | -่ | -้ | -๊ | -๋ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mid | dead | low | – | fall | high | – |
| mid | alive | mid | low | fall | high | rise |
| high | dead | low | – | fall | ||
| high | alive | rise | low | fall | ||
| low | dead (short vowel) | high | fall | – | ||
| low | dead (long vowel) | fall | – | high | ||
| low | alive | mid | fall | high |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| TheBrahmi script and its descendants |
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The Thai script (like allIndic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Sanskrit and related languages (in particular, Pali).Pali is very closely related to Sanskrit and is the liturgical language ofThai Buddhism. In Thailand, Pali is written and studied using a slightly modified Thai script. The main difference is that each consonant is followed by an implied short a (อะ), not the 'o', or 'ə' of Thai: this short a is never omitted in pronunciation, and if the vowel is not to be pronounced, then a specific symbol must be used, thepinthu อฺ (a solid dot under the consonant). This means thatsara a (อะ) is never used when writing Pali, because it is always implied. For example,namo is written นะโม in Thai, but in Pali it is written as นโม, because the อะ is redundant. The Sanskrit word 'mantra' is written มนตร์ in Thai (and therefore pronouncedmon), but is written มนฺตฺร in Sanskrit (and therefore pronouncedmantra). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.
This is an example of a Pali text written using the Thai Sanskrit orthography: อรหํ สมฺมาสมฺพุทฺโธ ภควา[arahaṃ sammāsambuddho bhagavā]. Written in modern Thai orthography, this becomes อะระหัง สัมมาสัมพุทโธ ภะคะวาarahang sammasamphuttho phakhawa.
In Thailand, Sanskrit is read out using the Thai values for all the consonants (so ค is read askha and not [ga]), which makes Thai spoken Sanskrit incomprehensible to sanskritists not trained in Thailand. The Sanskrit values are used in transliteration (without thediacritics), but these values are never actually used when Sanskrit is read out loud in Thailand. The vowels used in Thai are identical to Sanskrit, with the exception of ฤ, ฤๅ, ฦ, and ฦๅ, which are read using their Thai values, not their Sanskrit values. Sanskrit and Pali are not tonal languages, but in Thailand, the Thai tones are used when reading these languages out loud.
In the tables of this section, the Thai value (transliterated according to the Royal Thai system) of each letter is listed first, followed by theIAST value of each letter in square brackets. The IAST values are never used in pronunciation, but sometimes in transcriptions (with the diacritics omitted). This disjoint between transcription and spoken value explains the romanisation for Sanskrit names in Thailand that many foreigners find confusing. For example, สุวรรณภูมิ is romanised asSuvarnabhumi, but pronouncedsu-wan-na-phum. ศรีนครินทร์ is romanised asSrinagarindra but pronouncedsi-nakha-rin.
Plosives (also called stops) are listed in their traditional Sanskrit order, which corresponds to Thai alphabetical order fromก toม with three exceptions: in Thai, high-classข is followed by two obsolete characters with no Sanskrit equivalent, high-class ฃ and low-class ฅ; low-classช is followed by sibilant ซ (low-class equivalent of high-class sibilant ส that follows ศ and ษ.) The table gives the Thai value first, and then theIAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) value in square brackets.
| class | Sanskrit unvoiced | Sanskrit voiced | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai unvoiced | Thai voiced | |||||||||
| Unaspirated | Aspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Nasal | |||||
| Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | |
| velar | ก kà | क [ka] /k/ | ข khà | ख [kha] /kʰ/ | ค khá | ग [ga] /g/ | ฆ khá | घ [gha] /gʱ/ | ง ngá | ङ [ṅa] /ŋ/ |
| palatal | จ cà | च [ca] /c/, /tɕ/ | ฉ chà | छ [cha] /cʰ/, /tɕʰ/ | ช chá | ज [ja] | ฌ chá | झ [jha] /ɟʱ/, /d͡ʑʱ/ | ญ yá | ञ [ña] /ɲ/ |
| retroflex | ฏ tà | ट[ṭa] /ʈ/ | ฐ thà | ठ[ṭha] /ʈʰ/ | ฑ thá | ड[ḍa] /ɖ/ | ฒ thá | ढ[ḍha] /ɖʱ/ | ณ ná | ण[ṇa] /ɳ/ |
| dental | ต tà | त[ta] /t/ | ถ thà | थ[tha] /tʰ/ | ท thá | द[da] /d/ | ธ thá | ध[dha] /dʱ/ | น ná | न[na] /n/ |
| labial | ป pà | प[pa] /p/ | ผ phà | फ[pha] /pʰ/ | พ phá | ब[ba] /b/ | ภ phá | भ[bha] /bʱ/ | ม má | म[ma] /m/ |
| tone class | Mid | High | Low | Low | Low | |||||
None of the Sanskrit plosives are pronounced as the Thai voiced plosives, so these are not represented in the table. While letters are listed here according to their class in Sanskrit, Thai has lost the distinction between many of the consonants. So, while there is a clear distinction between ช and ฌ in Sanskrit, in Thai these two consonants are pronounced identically (including tone). Likewise, the Thai phonemes do not differentiate between the retroflex and dental classes, since Thai has no retroflex consonants. The equivalents of all the retroflex consonants are pronounced identically to their dental counterparts: thus ฏ is pronounced like ต, ฐ is pronounced like ถ, ฑ is pronounced like ท, ฒ is pronounced like ธ, and ณ is pronounced like น.
The Sanskrit unaspirated unvoiced plosives are pronounced as unaspirated unvoiced, whereas Sanskrit aspirated voiced plosives are pronounced as aspirated unvoiced.
Semivowels (กึ่งสระkueng sara)andliquids come in Thai alphabetical order afterม, the last of the plosives. The term อวรรคawak means "without a break"; that is, without a plosive.
| series | symbol | value | related vowels | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | Sanskrit | |||
| palatal | ย | yá | य[ya] /j/ | อิ andอี |
| retroflex | ร | rá | र[ra] /ɽ/ | ฤ andฤๅ |
| dental | ล | lá | ल[la] /l/ | ฦ andฦๅ |
| labial | ว | wá | व[va] /ʋ/ | อุ andอู |
Inserted sounds (เสียดแทรกsiat saek) follow the semi-vowel ว in alphabetical order.
| series | symbol | value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | Sanskrit | ||
| palatal | ศ | sà | श[śa]/ɕ/ |
| retroflex | ษ | sà | ष[ṣa]/ʂ/ |
| dental | ส | sà | स[sa]/s/ |
Like Sanskrit, Thai has no voiced sibilant (so no 'z' or 'zh'). In modern Thai, the distinction between the three high-class consonants has been lost and all three are pronounced 'sà'; however, foreign words with a sh-sound may still be transcribed as if the Sanskrit values still hold (e.g.,ang-grit อังกฤษ forEnglish instead of อังกฤส).
| symbol | value | |
|---|---|---|
| Thai | Sanskrit | |
| ห | hà | ह[ha] /ɦ/ |
ห, a high-class consonant, comes next in alphabetical order, but its low-class equivalent,ฮ, follows similar-appearing อ as the last letter of the Thai alphabet. Like modern Hindi, the voicing has disappeared, and the letter is now pronounced like English 'h'. Like Sanskrit, this letter may only be used to start a syllable, but may not end it. (A popular beer is romanized asSingha, but in Thai is สิงห์, with akaran on the ห; correct pronunciation is "sing", but foreigners to Thailand typically say "sing-ha".)
| symbol | value | |
|---|---|---|
| Thai | Sanskrit | |
| ฬ | llá | ळ[ḷa] /ɭ/ |
This represents the retroflex liquid of Pali and Vedic Sanskrit, which does not exist in Classical Sanskrit.
| symbol | value |
|---|---|
| อ | a |
| อา | ā |
| อิ | i |
| อี | ī |
| อุ | u |
| อู | ū |
| เอ | e |
| ไอ | ai |
| โอ | o |
| เอา | au |
| ฤ | ṛ |
| ฤๅ | ṝ |
| ฦ | ḷ |
| ฦๅ | ḹ |
All consonants have an inherent 'a' sound, and therefore there is no need to use the ะ symbol when writing Sanskrit. The Thai vowels อื, ใอ, and so forth, are not used in Sanskrit. Thezero consonant, อ, is unique to the Indic alphabets descended from Khmer. When it occurs in Sanskrit, it is always the zero consonant and never the vowelo[ɔː]. Its use in Sanskrit is therefore to write vowels that cannot be otherwise written alone: e.g., อา or อี. When อ is written on its own, then it is a carrier for the implied vowel,a[a] (equivalent to อะ in Thai).
The vowel sign อำ occurs in Sanskrit, but only as the combination of the pure vowelssara a อา withnikkhahit อํ.
There are a number of additional symbols only used to write Sanskrit or Pali, and not used in writing Thai.
| Symbol | IAST |
|---|---|
| อํ | ṃ |
In Sanskrit, theanusvāra indicates a certain kind of nasal sound. In Thai this is written as an open circle above the consonant, known asnikkhahit (นิคหิต), from Paliniggahīta. Nasalisation does not occur in Thai, therefore, a nasal stop is always substituted: e.g. ตํtaṃ, is pronounced as ตังtang by ThaiSanskritists. If nikkhahit occurs before a consonant, then Thai uses a nasal stop of the same class: e.g. สํสฺกฤตา[saṃskṛta] is read as สันสกฤตาsan-sa-krit-ta (The ส following the nikkhahit is a dental-class consonant, therefore the dental-class nasal stop น is used). For this reason, it has been suggested that in Thai, nikkhahit should be listed as a consonant.[8] Also, traditional Pali grammars describe nikkhahit as a consonant.Nikkhahit นิคหิต occurs as part of the Thai vowelssara am อำ andsara ue อึ.
อฺ
Because the Thai script is anabugida, a symbol (equivalent tovirāma indevanagari) needs to be added to indicate that the implied vowel is not to be pronounced. This is thephinthu, which is a solid dot (also called 'Bindu' in Sanskrit) below the consonant.
อ๎
Yamakkan (ยามักการ) is an obsolete symbol used to mark the beginning of consonant clusters: e.g. พ๎ราห๎มณphramana[brāhmaṇa]. Without the yamakkan, this word would be pronouncedpharahamana[barāhamaṇa] instead. This is a feature unique to the Thai script (other Indic scripts use a combination of ligatures, conjuncts or virāma to convey the same information). The symbol is obsolete becausepinthu may be used to achieve the same effect: พฺราหฺมณ.
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The means of recordingvisarga (final voiceless 'h') in Thai has reportedly been lost, although the character ◌ะ which is used to transcribe a short /a/ or to add a glottal stop after a vowel is the closest equivalent and can be seen used as a visarga in some Thai-script Sanskrit text.
The Thai script is derived from theSukhothai script.
| Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | [m̊] หม | [m] ม | [n̊] หน | [n] น, ณ | [ɲ̊] หญ | [ɲ] ญ | [ŋ̊] หง | [ŋ] ง | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | [p] ป | [pʰ] ผ | [b] พ, ภ | [ʔb] บ | [t] ฏ, ต | [tʰ] ฐ, ถ | [d] ท, ธ | [ʔd] ฎ, ด | [k] ก | [kʰ] ข | [g] ค, ฆ | [ʔ] อ | |||||||||
| Affricate | [tɕ] จ | [tɕʰ] ฉ | [dʑ] ช | [x] ฃ | [ɣ] ฅ | ||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | [f] ฝ | [v] ฟ | [s] ศ, ษ, ส | [z-ʑ] ซ | [h] ห | [ɦ] ฮ | |||||||||||||||
| Trill | [r̊] หร | [r] ร | |||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | [ẘ] หว | [w] ว | [j̊] หย | [j] ย | [ʔj] อย | ||||||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | [l̥] หล | [l] ล | |||||||||||||||||||
| Letters | IPA | Word in Sukhothai (in Modern Thai script) | Pronunciation in IPA (excluding tone) | Meaning and Definitions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| วรรค ก | Varga Kor | ||||
| ก | k | เกิด | kɤːt | v. to be born |
| ข | kʰ | ของ | kʰɔːŋ | n. thing |
| ฃ | x | ฃึ้น (ขึ้น) | xɯn | v. to go up |
| ค | g | ครู | gruː | n. teacher |
| ฅ | ɣ | ฅวาม (ความ) | ɣwaːm | n. affair; matter; content |
| ฆ | g | ฆ่า | gaː | v. to kill |
| ง | ŋ | งก | ŋok | adj. greedy |
| หง | ŋ̊ | หงอก | ŋ̊ɔːk | v. to whiten (hair) |
| วรรค จ | Varga Jor | ||||
| จ | tɕ | ใจ | tɕaɯ | n. heart |
| ฉ | tɕʰ | ฉาย | tɕʰaːj | v. to shine (on something) |
| ช | dʑ | ชื่อ | dʑɯː | n. name |
| ซ | z - ʑ | ซ้ำ | zam | adv. repeatedly |
| ญ | ɲ | ญวน | ɲuan | v. Vietnam (archaic) |
| หญ | ɲ̊ | หญิง | ɲ̊iŋ | n. woman |
| วรรค รฏ | Varga Ra Tor | ||||
| ฎ | ʔd | ฎีกา | ʔdiː.kaː | n. petition notice |
| ฏ | t | ฏาร | taː.raʔ | n. Ganymede |
| ฐ | tʰ | ฐาน | tʰaːn | n. base, platform |
| ณ | n | เณร | neːn | n. novice monk |
| วรรค ต | Varga Tor | ||||
| ด | ʔd | ดาว | ʔdaːw | n. star |
| ต | t | ตา | taː | n. eye |
| ถ | tʰ | ถอย | tʰɔj | v. to move back |
| ท | d | ทอง | dɔːŋ | n. gold |
| ธ | d | ธุระ | du.raʔ | n. business; affairs; errands |
| น | n | น้ำ | naːm | n. water |
| หน | n̊ | หนู | n̊uː | n. mouse |
| วรรค ป | Varga Por | ||||
| บ | ʔb | บ้าน | ʔbaːn | n. house |
| ป | p | ปลา | plaː | n. fish |
| ผ | pʰ | ผึ้ง | pʰɯŋ | n. bee |
| ฝ | f | ฝัน | fan | n. dream |
| พ | b | พ่อ | bɔː | n. father |
| ฟ | v | ฟัน | van | n. tooth |
| ภ | b | ภาษา | baː.saː | n. language |
| ม | m | แม่ | mɛː | n. mother |
| หม | m̊ | หมา | m̊aː | n. dog |
| อวรรค | Avarga | ||||
| อย | ʔj | อย่า | ʔjaː | adv. do not |
| ย | j | เย็น | jen | adj. cold |
| หย | j̊ | เหยียบ | j̊iap | v. to step on |
| ร | r | รัก | rak | v. to love |
| หร | r̊ | หรือ | r̊ɯː | conj. or |
| ล | l | ลม | lom | n. wind |
| หล | l̥ | หล่อ | l̥ɔː | adj. handsome |
| ว | w | วัน | wan | n. day |
| หว | ẘ | หวี | ẘiː | n. comb |
| ศ | s | ศาล | saːn | n. court of law |
| ษ | s | ฤๅษรี (ฤๅษี) | rɯː.siː | n. hermit |
| ส | s | สวย | suaj | adj. beautiful |
| อ | ʔ | อ้าย | ʔaːj | n. first born son |
Thai script was added to theUnicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.
The Unicode block for Thai is U+0E00–U+0E7F.It is a verbatim copy of the olderTIS-620 character set which encodes the vowels เ, แ, โ, ใ and ไ before the consonants they follow, and thus Thai,Lao,Tai Viet andNew Tai Lue are the onlyBrahmic scripts in Unicode that use visual order instead of logical order.
| Thai[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+0E0x | ก | ข | ฃ | ค | ฅ | ฆ | ง | จ | ฉ | ช | ซ | ฌ | ญ | ฎ | ฏ | |
| U+0E1x | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ด | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | บ | ป | ผ | ฝ | พ | ฟ |
| U+0E2x | ภ | ม | ย | ร | ฤ | ล | ฦ | ว | ศ | ษ | ส | ห | ฬ | อ | ฮ | ฯ |
| U+0E3x | ะ | ั | า | ำ | ิ | ี | ึ | ื | ุ | ู | ฺ | ฿ | ||||
| U+0E4x | เ | แ | โ | ใ | ไ | ๅ | ๆ | ็ | ่ | ้ | ๊ | ๋ | ์ | ํ | ๎ | ๏ |
| U+0E5x | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ | ๚ | ๛ | ||||
| U+0E6x | ||||||||||||||||
| U+0E7x | ||||||||||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Thai characters can be typed using theKedmanee layout and thePattachote layout.
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