This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: This list needs to be rewritten from scratch as it was improperly created by copying from other lists, resulting in irrelevant and inaccurate content.(June 2013) |
The Thai language has many borrowed words from mainly Sanskrit, Tamil, Pali and some Prakrit, Khmer, Portuguese, Dutch, certain Chinese dialects and more recently, Arabic (in particular many Islamic terms) and English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Some examples as follows:
Word | Romanization | English translation | From Language | Word |
---|---|---|---|---|
อักษร | àk-sǒrn | alphabetic letter, key | Sanskrit | अक्षर/akṣara อกฺษร |
องุ่น | a-ngùn | grape | Persian | انگور/angur |
ภาษา | phaa-să | language | Sanskrit | भाषा/bhāṣā ภาษา |
ชา | chā | tea | Chinese | 茶 |
ภัย | phai | danger | Sanskrit, Pali | भय/bhaya ภย "risk, peril" |
บัส | bát | bus | English | bus |
ไวโอลิน | wai-o-lin | violin | English | violin |
อพาร์ทเมนต์ | a-pháat-mén | Apartment | English | |
เทวี | thee-wii | Goddess | Sanskrit, Pali | देवी/devī เทวี |
ฑีฆายุ | thii-khaa-yú | "long live" | Sanskrit | दीर्घायु/dīrghāyu ทีรฺฆายุ |
ครู | khruu | teacher | Sanskrit, Pali | गुरु/guru คุรุ |
เคาน์เตอร์ | kháu-toê/ kháu-têr | "counter" or "desk" | English | |
กบาล | ka-baan | head | Sanskrit, Pali | कपाल/kapāla กปาล "skull" |
คอมพิวเตอร์ | khom-phiw-tôe/ khom-phiw-têr | computer | English | |
มหา- | ma-hăa- | great | Sanskrit, Pali | महा/mahā มหา |
มนุษย์ | ma-nút | human being | Sanskrit | मनुष्य/manuṣya มนุษฺย |
มัสยิด | mát-sa-yít | mosque | Arabic | مسجد/masjid |
หมี่ | mìi | noodles | Hokkien | 麵 mī |
นรก | na-rók | hell | Sanskrit, Pali | नरक/naraka นรก |
ราสเบอร์รี่ | ráat-ber-rîi | raspberry | English | |
ราชา | raa-chaa | king | Sanskrit, Pali | राजा/rājā ราชา |
รส | rót | taste | Sanskrit/Pali | रस/rasa รส |
รูป | rûp | picture | Sanskrit, Pali | रूप/rūpa รูป |
สบู่ | sa-bùu | soap | Portuguese | Sabão |
เซ็กซ์ | sék | sex | English | |
สมบูรณ์ | sŏm-buun | perfect, complete | Sanskrit | संपूर्ण/sampūrṇa สมฺปูรฺณ ← สํปูรฺณ (from สํ + ปูรฺณ) = complete(d) - cf. "purnama" |
ศัตรู | sàt-truu | adversary, enemy | Sanskrit | शत्रु/śatru ศตฺรุ |
สิงห์ | sĭng | lion | Sanskrit, Pali | सिंह/singha สิํห/สึห → สิงฺห |
โชเฟอร์ (dialectal) | choo-fêr | driver | French | chauffeur |
สวรรค์ | sa-wăn | heaven | Sanskrit | स्वर्ग/svarga สฺวรฺค |
สุข | sùk | happiness | Sanskrit, Pali | सुख/sukha สุข |
สุริยา | sù-rí-yaa/ sù-ri-yaa | sun | Pali | Suriya สูริยา (Sanskrit: सूर्य/sūrya สูรฺยา) |
เต้าหู้ | tâu-hûu | beancurd | Hokkien | 豆腐/tao-hu |
แท็กซี่ | táek-sîi | taxi | English | |
ทีวี | thii-wii | television | English | TV |
อุดร | ù-dorn | north | Sanskrit, Pali | उत्तर/uttara อุตฺตร |
ยีราฟ | yii-ráap | giraffe | English | |
ประถม | pra-thǒm | primary | Sanskrit | प्रथम/prathama ปฺรถม |
คชา | kha-chaa | elephant | Sanskrit, Pali | गज/gaja คช |
ประเทศ | pra-thêet | country | Sanskrit | प्रदेश/pradeśa ปฺรเทศ |
นคร | ná-khorn | city | Sanskrit, Pali | नगर/nagara นคร |
สันติ | sǎn-tì | peace | Pali | sānti สานฺติ (Sanskrit: शान्ति/śānti ศานฺติ) |
ชัย | chai | victory | Sanskrit, Pali | जय/jaya ชย |
ภูมิ | phuum | soil | Sanskrit, Pali | भूमि/bhūmi ภูมิ |
วาจา | waa-jaa | words | Sanskrit, Pali | वाचा/vācā วาจา |
ภาวะ | phaa-wá | condition | Sanskrit, Pali | भाव/bhāva ภาว |
กษัตริย์ | ka-sàt | king | Sanskrit | क्षत्रिय/kṣatriya กฺษตฺริย |
ภักดี | phák-dii | loyal | Sanskrit | भक्ति/bhakti ภกฺติ |
วิจารณ์ | wí-jaan | review | Sanskrit | विचार्ण/vicārna วิจารฺณ |
พายุ | phaa-yú | storm | Sanskrit, Pali | वायु/vāyu วายุ |
สัตว์ | sàt | animal | Sanskrit | सत्व/satva สตฺว |
พินาศ | phí-nâat | destruction | Sanskrit | विनाश/vināśa วินาศ |
ภูเขา | phuu-khǎu | mountain | compound | ภู + เขา |
วิหาร | wí-hǎan | temple | Sanskrit, Pali | विहार/vihāra วิหาร |
เวลา | wee-laa | time | Sanskrit, Pali | वेला/velā เวลา |
อาสา | aa-sǎa | hope(desire) | Sanskrit | अभिलाष/asha |
กระดาษ | kra-dàat | paper | Sanskrit | कागद/kagada |
เภตรา | phee-traa | boat | Sanskrit | वहित्र/vahitra |
อากาศ | aa-kàat | air | Sanskrit | आकाश/ākāśa |
เทศ | thêet | outlandish | Sanskrit | देश/deśa |
ทุกข์ | thúk | suffering | Sanskrit | दुःख/duḥkha |
โทษ | thôot | blame | Sanskrit | दोष/doṣa |
จิตร | jìt | design | Sanskrit | चित्र/citra |
ทุน | thun | fund | Sanskrit | धन/dhana |
จันทร์ | jan | moon | Sanskrit | चन्द्र/chandra |
จักรวาล | jàk-kra-waan | universe | Sanskrit | चक्रवाल/chakravala |
คุณ | khun | you, useful | Sanskrit | गुण/ghuna |
สตรี | sa-trii | woman | Sanskrit | स्त्री/strī |
อาคาร | aa-khaan | building | Sanskrit | आगार/āgāra |
ปราสาท | praa-sàat | castle | Sanskrit | प्रासाद/prāsāda |
นาม | naam | name | Sanskrit | नाम/nama |
ชีวา | chii-waa | living | Sanskrit | जीव/jīva |
กระจก | kra-chòk | mirror, glass | Sanskrit | casaka |
กรุณา | ka-ru-naa | please, compassion | Sanskrit | करुण/karuṇa |
พิเศษ | phí-sèet | special | Sanskrit | विशेष/viśeṣa |
พุทธิ | phút-thí | intelligence | Sanskrit | बुद्धि/buddhi |
หิมะ | hì-má | snow | Sanskrit | हिम/hima |
เมฆ | mêek | cloud | Sanskrit | मेघ/megha |
ตรีศูล | trii-sǔun | trident | Sanskrit | त्रिशूल/triśūla |
วิทยา | wít-tha-yaa | science | Sanskrit | विद्या/vidyā = "knowledge" |
สัปดาห์ | sàp-daa | week | Sanskrit | सप्ताह/saptāha |
บริษัท | bor-ri-sàt | company | Sanskrit | परिषद्/pariṣad |
สมาคม | sa-maa-khom | association | Sanskrit | समागम/samāgama |
ชีวิต | chii-wít | life | Sanskrit | जीवित/jīvita |
อาหาร | aa-hǎan | food | Sanskrit | आहार/āhāra |
หนอง | nǒng | pus | Chinese | 膿 |
อ่าว | ǎu | bay | Chinese | 澳 |
อาน | aan | saddle | Chinese | 鞍 |
There are some Thai words which are transcribed into equivalent characters of Thai language e.g. format ฟอร์แมท (f-ฟ o-อ r-ร m-ม a-แ t-ต), lesbian เลสเบียน (l-ล e-เ s-ส b-บ ia-เอีย n-น) etc. These words are transcribed with rules made by the Royal Institute.
Thai also has a heavily influenced form of colloquial English spoken by some in Thailand (Tinglish). However, it's not a language used between locals, it is only used with tourists.
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme is a unit of phone that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
Slang is vocabulary of an informal register, common in verbal conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception.
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters in predictable ways, such as Greek ⟨α⟩ → ⟨a⟩, Cyrillic ⟨д⟩ → ⟨d⟩, Greek ⟨χ⟩ → the digraph ⟨ch⟩, Armenian ⟨ն⟩ → ⟨n⟩ or Latin ⟨æ⟩ → ⟨ae⟩.
A diphthong, also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel. In most varieties of English, the phrase "no highway cowboy" has five distinct diphthongs, one in every syllable.
Thai, or Central Thai, is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai people and a vast majority of Thai Chinese. It is the sole official language of Thailand.
A loanword is a word at least partly assimilated from one language into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because they share an etymological origin; and calques, which involve translation. Loanwords from languages with different scripts are usually transliterated, but they are not translated. Additionally, loanwords may be adapted to the phonology, phonotactics, orthography, and morphology of the target language. When a loanword is fully adapted to the rules of the target language, it is distinguished from native words of the target language only by its origin. However, often the adaptation is incomplete, so loanwords may conserve specific features distinguishing them from native words of the target language: loaned phonemes and sound combinations, partial or total conserving of the original spelling, foreign plural or case forms or indeclinability.
The Thai script is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself has 44 consonant symbols, 16 vowel symbols that combine into at least 32 vowel forms and four tone diacritics to create characters mostly representing syllables.
Malay is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of the Philippines and Thailand. Altogether, it is spoken by 290 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia.
In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut is a system of apophony in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE).
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of speech sounds by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet.
A demonym or gentilic is a word that identifies a group of people in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, state, country, and continent. Demonyms are used to designate all people of a particular place, regardless of ethnic, linguistic, religious or other cultural differences that may exist within the population of that place. Examples of demonyms include Cochabambino, for someone from the city of Cochabamba; French for a person from France; and Swahili, for a person of the Swahili coast.
Polivanov system is a system of transliterating the Japanese language into Russian Cyrillic script, either to represent Japanese proper names or terms in Russian or as an aid to Japanese language learning in those languages. The system was developed by Yevgeny Polivanov in 1917.
Isan or Northeastern Thai refers to the local development of the Lao language in Thailand, after the political split of the Lao-speaking world at the Mekong River, with the eastern bank eventually becoming modern Laos and the western bank the Isan region of Thailand, after the conclusion of the Franco-Siamese War of 1893. The language is still referred to as Lao by native speakers. As a descendant of the Lao language, Isan is also a Lao-Phuthai language of the Southwestern branch of Tai languages in the Kra-Dai language family, most closely related to its parent language Lao and 'tribal' Tai languages such as Phuthai and Tai Yo. Isan is officially classified as a dialect of the Thai language by the Thai government; although Thai is a closely related Southwestern Tai language, it actually falls within the Chiang Saen languages. Thai and Lao are mutually intelligible with difficulty, as even though they share over 80% cognate vocabulary, Lao and Isan have a very different tonal pattern, vowel quality, manner of speaking and many very commonly used words that differ from Thai thus hampering inter-comprehension without prior exposure.
Gairaigo is Japanese for "loan word", and indicates a transcription into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed in ancient times from Old or Middle Chinese, but in modern times, primarily from English, Portuguese, Dutch, and modern Chinese dialects, such as Standard Chinese and Cantonese. These are primarily written in the katakana phonetic script, with a few older terms written in Chinese characters (kanji); the latter are known as ateji.
The Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) is the official system for rendering Thai words in the Latin alphabet. It was published by the Royal Institute of Thailand in early 1917, when Thailand was called Siam.
Transcription into Chinese characters is the use of traditional or simplified Chinese characters to phonetically transcribe the sound of terms and names of foreign words to the Chinese language. Transcription is distinct from translation into Chinese whereby the meaning of a foreign word is communicated in Chinese. Since, in mainland China and often in Taiwan, Hanyu Pinyin is now used to transcribe Chinese into a modified Latin alphabet and since English classes are now standard in most secondary schools, it is increasingly common to see foreign names and terms left in their original form in Chinese texts. However, for mass media and marketing within China and for non-European languages, particularly those of the Chinese minorities, transcription into characters remains very common.
Tai Tham script is an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün and Lao; as well as the liturgical languages of Buddhism i.e., Pali and Sanskrit. It is historically known as Tua Tham. In Thailand and Myanmar, the script is often referred to as Lanna script in relation to the historical kingdom of Lan Na situating in the Northern region of modern day Thailand and a part of Shan state in Myanmar. Local people in Northern Thailand also call the script as Tua Mueang in parallel to Kam Mueang, a local name for Northern Thai language. In Laos and Isan region of Thailand, a variation of Tai Tham script, often dubbed Lao Tham, is also known by the locals as To Tham Lao or Yuan script. Tai Tham script is traditionally written on a dried palm leaf as a palm-leaf manuscript.
In linguistics an accidental gap, also known as a gap, paradigm gap, accidental lexical gap, lexical gap, lacuna, or hole in the pattern, is a potential word, word sense, morpheme, or other form that does not exist in some language despite being theoretically permissible by the grammatical rules of that language. For example, a word pronounced is theoretically possible in English, as it would obey English word-formation rules, but does not currently exist. Its absence is therefore an accidental gap, in the ontologic sense of the word accidental.
Yo, Jo, Io, or just Ë is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter ⟨Ё⟩ is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO.