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The Thai alphabet (ตัวอักษรไทย) is used to write the Thai language (ภาษาไทย) and other minority languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants (พยัญชนะ), twenty-eight vowel forms (รูปสระ) and four tone marks (วรรณยุกต์). The consonants are written horizontally from left to right, while the vowels are arranged above, below, to the left or to the right of the corresponding consonant.
Unlike the Roman alphabet, the Thai alphabet does not distinguish minuscule and majuscule letters. It is usually written with no space between words, which is facilitated by the fact that most Thai words have only one syllable. The end of sentences is marked by a space.
There is a set of Thai numerals (ตัวเลขไทย), but the so-called Arabic numerals (ตัวเลขอารบิค) are also commonly used.
The Thai alphabet is probably derived from the Old Khmer (อักขระเขมร) script, which is a southern Brahmic script of the Indic family. According to tradition it was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great (พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช).
You will need a Unicode-capable browser and font that contains the Thai alphabet to view the Thai letters below.
There are 44 consonants representing 21 distinct consonant sounds. Duplicate consonants represent different Sanskrit and Pali consonants pronounced identically in Thai. Their continued use is necessary to differentiate among unrelated loan-words which are Thai homophones. The consonants are divided into three classes - low, middle and high - which determine the tone of the following vowel. There are in addition four consonant-vowel combination characters not included in the tally of 44.
To aid learning, each consonant is traditionally associated with a Thai word that either starts with the same sound, or features it prominently. For example, the name of the letter ข is khor khai (ข ไข่), in which khor is the sound it represents, and khai (ไข่) is a word which starts with the same sound and means "egg".
Equivalents for Romanization are shown in the table below, although there is no single standard. Many consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning and at the end of a syllable: the first entry in the equivalent column is the pronunciation for that consonant in the initial position, and the second entry is the pronunciation in the final position. Where the second entry under "Equivalent" 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'.
| Symbol | Name | Equivalent | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| ก | kor kai (chicken) | k (g) | M |
| ข | khor khai (egg) | kh-, -k | H |
| ฃ | khor khuat (bottle) [obsolete] | kh-, -k | H |
| ค | khor khwaai (water buffalo) | kh-, -k | L |
| ฅ | khor khon (person) [obsolete] | kh-, -k | L |
| ฆ | khor rakhang (bell) | kh-, -k | L |
| ง | ngor nguu (snake) | ng | L |
| จ | jor jaan (plate) | j-, -t | M |
| ฉ | chor ching (cymbals) | ch-, - | H |
| ช | chor chaang (elephant) | ch-, -t | L |
| ซ | sor soo (chain) | s-, -t | L |
| ฌ | chor choe (bush) | ch-, - | L |
| ญ | yor ying (woman) | y-, -n | L |
| ฎ | dor chadaa (headdress) | d-, -t | M |
| ฏ | tor patak (goad) | t | M |
| ฐ | thor sunthaan (base) | th-, -t | H |
| ฑ | thor naangmonthoo (dancer) | th- (d), -t | L |
| ฒ | thor phuuthao (old person) | th-, -t | L |
| ณ | nor neen (novice monk) | n | L |
| ด | dor dek (child) | d-, -t | M |
| ต | tor tao (turtle) | t | M |
| ถ | thor thung (sack) | th-, -t | H |
| ท | thor thahaan (soldier) | th-, -t | L |
| ธ | thor thong (flag) | th-, -t | L |
| น | nor nuu (mouse) | n | L |
| บ | bor baimaai (leaf) | b-, -p | M |
| ป | por plaa (fish) | p | M |
| ผ | phor phueng (bee) | ph-, - | H |
| ฝ | for faa (lid) | f-, - | H |
| พ | phor phaan (tray) | ph-, -p | L |
| ฟ | for fan (teeth) | f-, -p | L |
| ภ | phor samphao (sailboat) | ph-, -p | L |
| ม | mor maa (horse) | m | L |
| ย | yor yak (ogre) | y | L |
| ร | ror ruea (boat) | r-, -n | L |
| ฤ | ror reu * | reu, - | - |
| ฤๅ | ror reuu * | reuu, - | - |
| ล | lor ling (monkey) | l-, -n | L |
| ฦ | lor leu * | leu-, - | - |
| ฦๅ | lor leuu * | leuu-, - | - |
| ว | wor waen (ring) | w | L |
| ศ | sor saalaa (pavilion) | s-, -t | H |
| ษ | sor reusii (hermit) | s-, -t | H |
| ส | sor seua (tiger) | s-, -t | H |
| ห | hor hiip (chest) | h | H |
| ฬ | lor chulaa (kite) | l-, -n | L |
| อ | or aang (basin) | [silent] | M |
| ฮ | hor nokhuuk (owl) | h | L |
* Consonant-vowel combination characters, not members of any group.
Thai vowel sounds and diphthongs are written using a mixture of vowel symbols, consonants, and combinations of vowel symbols. Each vowel is shown in its correct position relative to a consonant. Note that vowels can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant; some are written with symbols to both the left and right of the consonant; and sometimes they may be two positions to the left of the consonant whose sound precedes the vowel. There is no standardfor Romanizations of Thai vowels; those given below are devised to avoid confounding different vowels which are commonly transliterated as if the same. Variants represent the most commonly used other transcriptions. Sounds are very approximate equivalents in Northeastern US English.
| Symbol | Name | Romanization | Variants | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| กรร* | ror han | an | un | un in "until" |
| กรรก* | ror han | a | u | u in "nut" |
| กวก* | wor waen | ua | uar | ewe in "newer" |
| กอ* | or aang | or | o aw ow | aw in "saw" |
| กะ | sara a | a | u | u in "nut" |
| กั | mai han-akaat | a | u | u in "nut" |
| กัว | mai han-akaat wor waen | ua | ewer | ewe in "newer" |
| กัวะ | sara uah | uah | ua ewer | ewe in "sewer" |
| กา | sara aa | aa | a | a in "father" |
| กำ | sara am | am | um | um in "sum" |
| กิ | sara i | i | i | i in "it" |
| กี | sara ii | ii | ee y | ee in "see" |
| กึ | sara eu | eu | ue uh | u in French "du" (short) |
| กื | sara euu | eu | ue | u in French "dur" (long) |
| กุ | sara u | u | oo | oo in "look" |
| กู | sara uu | uu | u oo | ue in "sue" |
| เก | sara e | e | ay a ae ai | a in "lame" |
| เกะ | sara eh | eh | e | e in "neck" |
| เกา | sara e...sara aa | ao | aw ow | ow in "cow" |
| เกาะ | sara orh | orh | oh o or | o in "not" |
| เกีย | sara e...sara ii yor yak | ia | ear ere | ea in "ear" |
| เกียะ | sara iah | iah | ia ear | ea in "ear" with glottal stop |
| แก | sara ae | ae | a e | a in "ham" |
| แกะ | sara aeh | aeh | a | a in "at" |
| โก | sara o | o | oh or | o in "go" |
| โกะ | sara oh | oh | o | o in "poke" |
| ใก | sara ai maimuan | ai | ay y | i in "I" |
| ไก | sara ai maimalai | ai | ay y | i in "I" |
* vowels or diphthongs written with consonant symbols
Each mark is shown in its correct location relative to the consonant ko kai. The names of the tones are derived from the numbers one, two, three and four in an Indic language.
| Symbol | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ก่ | mai ek | tone mark |
| ก้ | mai tho | tone mark |
| ก๊ | mai tri | tone mark |
| ก๋ | mai jattawa | tone mark |
| ก็ | mai taikhu | shortens vowel |
| ก์ | mai thanthakhat | indicates silent letter |
| Symbol | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ฯ | paiyan noi | preceding word is abbreviated |
| ฯลฯ | paiyan yai | etc. |
| ๆ | mai yamok | preceding word is repeated |
The Unicode range for Thai is U+0E00 ... U+0E7F.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
| E00 | | ก | ข | ฃ | ค | ฅ | ฆ | ง | จ | ฉ | ช | ซ | ฌ | ญ | ฎ | ฏ | |
| E10 | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ด | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | บ | ป | ผ | ฝ | พ | ฟ | |
| E20 | ภ | ม | ย | ร | ฤ | ล | ฦ | ว | ศ | ษ | ส | ห | ฬ | อ | ฮ | ฯ | |
| E30 | ะ | ั | า | ำ | ิ | ี | ึ | ื | ุ | ู | ฺ | | | | | ฿ | |
| E40 | เ | แ | โ | ใ | ไ | ๅ | ๆ | ็ | ่ | ้ | ๊ | ๋ | ์ | ํ | ๎ | ๏ | |
| E50 | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ | ๚ | ๛ | | | | | |
| E60 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| E70 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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