THAI ALPHABET

The 'Thai alphabet' () (àk-sŏn thai) is used to write the Thai language and other minority languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants () (pha-yan-cha-ná), fifteen vowel symbols () (sà-rà) that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks () (wan-na-yúk or wan-na-yút).

★ Consonants ฃ (Unicode U+0E3) and ฅ (Unicode U+0E5) are obsolete, but still appear on many keyboards and in character sets. See discussion below.

★ Characters ฤ ฤๅ ฦ ฦๅ are also included in character sets. The first two are equivalent to รึ and รือ and follow ร in alphabetical order. The latter two are equivalents for ล but are obsolete and no longer used.
Consonants are written horizontally from left to right, with vowels arranged above, below, to the left or to the right of the corresponding consonant.

★ This is an Abugida, so 'consonants' include an inherent vowel sound. Since ''Abugida'' is unfamiliar to most students, the inherent vowel is described as an implied 'a' or 'o', below.
Thai letters are neither minuscule nor majuscule. Texts are usually written with no space between words, but reading is facilitated by the fact that most Thai words have only one syllable.

★ Minor pauses in sentences ''may'' be marked by a comma () (chun-la-phâk or lûk-nám), and major pauses by a period () (ma-hàp-phâk or chùt), but most often are marked by a blank space () (wák).
Thai writing also uses quotation marks () (an-yá-prà-kàt) and parentheses ( (wong lép), but not brackets or braces. A bird's eye () (ta-kài) (U+0E4F), officially called () (fong-man), formerly indicated paragraphs, but is obsolete.
Thai has its own set of Thai numerals (ตัวเลขไทย) (tua-lek-thai), but Hindu-Arabic numerals (ตัวเลขฮินดูอารบิก) (tua lek hindu arabik) are also commonly used.
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Contents

History

Alphabet listing

Consonants

Vowels

Diacritics

Other symbols

Sanskrit and Pali

Thai in computing

See also

External links

History

The Thai alphabet is probably derived from the Old Khmer script (อักขระเขมร) (akchara khmen), which is a southern Brahmic style of writing called Vatteluttu. Vatteluttu was also commonly known as the ''Pallava script'' by scholars of Southeast Asian studies such as George Coedes.
According to tradition it was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great (พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช).

Alphabet listing

You will need a Unicode-capable browser and font that contains the Thai alphabet to view the Thai letters below.

Consonants

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 (siang tam เสียงฅ่ำ), middle (siang glang เสียงกลาง) and high (siang sung sเสียงสูง) - 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 ''kho khai'' (ข ไข่), in which ''kho'' is the sound it represents, and ''khai'' (ไข่) is a word which starts with the same sound and means "egg".
Two of the consonants, ฃ (kho khuat) and ฅ (kho khon), are not used in written Thai anymore. Some say that when the first Thai typewriter was developed by Edwin Hunter McFarland in 1892, there was simply no space for all characters, thus two had to be left out. 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 (compare ข and ค), has the same pronunciation and the same consonant class as the preceding letter. This makes them redundant.
Equivalents for romanisation are shown in the table below. Many consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning and at the end of a syllable. The entries in columns ''initial'' and ''final'' 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 an official standard for romanisation is defined by the Royal Thai Institute, 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 the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is given as well.
Each consonant is assigned to a "class" (Low, Middle, High), which plays a role in determining the tone with which the syllable is pronounced.

Symbol	Name	Royal Thai		IPA		Class
		Initial	Final	Initial	Final	Class
ก	''goh gai'' (chicken)	g	g			M
ข	''kho khai'' (egg)	kh	k			H
ฃ	''kho khuat'' (bottle) [obsolete]	kh	k			H
ค	''kho khwai'' (water buffalo)	kh	k			L
ฅ	''kho khon'' (person) [obsolete]	kh	k			L
ฆ	''kho ra-khang'' (bell)	kh	k			L
ง	''ngo ngu'' (snake)	ng	ng			L
จ	''cho chan'' (plate)	ch	t			M
ฉ	''cho ching'' (cymbals)	ch	-			H
ช	''cho chang'' (elephant)	ch	t			L
ซ	''so so'' (chain)	s	t			L
ฌ	''cho choe'' (bush)	ch	-			L
ญ	''yo ying'' (woman)	y	n			L
ฎ	''do cha-da'' (headdress)	d	t			M
ฏ	''to pa-tak'' (goad)	t	t			M
ฐ	''tho san-than'' (base)	th	t			H
ฑ	''tho nangmon-tho'' (dancer)	th	t			L
ฒ	''tho phu-thao'' (old person)	th	t			L
ณ	''no nen'' (novice monk)	n	n			L
ด	''do dek'' (child)	d	t			M
ต	''to tao'' (turtle)	t	t			M
ถ	''tho thung'' (sack)	th	t			H
ท	''tho thahan'' (soldier)	th	t			L
ธ	''tho thong'' (flag)	th	t			L
น	''no nu'' (mouse)	n	n			L
บ	''bo baimai'' (leaf)	b	p			M
ป	''po plaa'' (fish)	p	p			M
ผ	''pho phueng'' (bee)	ph	-			H
ฝ	''fo fa'' (lid)	f	-			H
พ	''pho phan'' (tray)	ph	p			L
ฟ	''fo fan'' (teeth)	f	p			L
ภ	''pho sam-phao'' (sailboat)	ph	p			L
ม	''mo ma'' (horse)	m	m			L
ย	''yo yak'' (giant)	y	y			L
ร	''ro ruea'' (boat)	r	n			L
ฤ	''ro rue (short)'' ★	rue	-			-
ฤๅ	''ro rue (long)'' ★	rue	-			-
ล	''lo ling'' (monkey)	l	n			L
ฦ	''lo lue (short)'' ★	lue	-			-
ฦๅ	''lo lue (long)'' ★	lue	-			-
ว	''wo waen'' (ring)	w	w			L
ศ	''so sala'' (pavilion)	s	t			H
ษ	''so rue-si'' (hermit)	s	t			H
ส	''so suea'' (tiger)	s	t			H
ห	''ho hip'' (chest)	h	-			H
ฬ	''lo chu-la'' (kite)	l	n			L
อ	''o ang'' (basin)	★ ★	-			M
ฮ	''ho nok-huk'' (owl)	h	-			L

★ Consonant-vowel combination characters, not members of any group.

★
★ อ is a special case in that at the beginning of a word it is used as a silent initial for syllables that start with a vowel (all vowels are written relative to a consonant — see below). The same symbol is used as a vowel in non-initial position.

Vowels

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 an initial consonant (indicated by a dash "–") and sometimes a final consonant as well (second dash). Note that 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.
The pronunciation is indicated by the International Phonetic Alphabet and the Romanisation according to the Royal 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.

Symbol	Name	IPA	Royal	Variants	Sound
–	''implied a''		a	u	u in "nut"
– –	''implied o''		o		oa in "boat"
–รร–	''ro han ★ ''		a	u	u in "nut"
–ว–	''wo waen ★ ''		ua	uar	ewe in "newer"
–วย	''sara uai''		uai	uay	uoy in "buoy"
–อ	''sara o''		o	or, aw	aw in "saw"
–อย	''sara oi''		oi	oy	oy in "boy"
–ะ	''sara a''		a	u	u in "nut"
–ั –	''mai han-akat''		a	u	u in "nut"
–ัย	''sara ai''		ai		i in "hi"
–ัว	''sara ua''		ua		ewe in "newer"
–ัวะ	''sara ua''		ua		ewe in "sewer"
–า	''sara a''		a	ah, ar, aa	a in "father"
–าย	''sara ai''		ai	aai, aay, ay	ye in "bye"
–าว	''sara ao''		ao	au	ow in "now"
–ำ	''sara am''		am	um	um in "sum"
–ิ	''sara i''		i		y in "greedy"
–ิว	''sara io''		io	ew	ew in "new"
–ี	''sara i''		i	ee, ii, y	ee in "see"
–ึ	''sara ue''		ue	eu, u, uh	u in French "du" (short)
–ื	''sara ue''		ue	eu, u	u in French "dur" (long)
–ุ	''sara u''		u	oo	oo in "look"
–ู	''sara u''		u	oo, uu	ue in "sue"
เ–	''sara e''		e	ay, a, ae, ai	a in "lame"
เ–็ –	''sara e''		e		e in "neck"
เ–ะ	''sara e''		e	eh	e in "neck"
เ–ย	''sara oei''		oei	oey	u in "burn" + y in "boy"
เ–อ	''sara oe''		oe	er, eu, ur	u in "burn"
เ–อะ	''sara oe''		oe	eu	e in "the"
เ–ิ –	''sara oe''		oe	eu, u	e in "the"
เ–ว	''sara eo''		eo	eu, ew	ai + ow in "rainbow"
เ–า	''sara ao''		ao	aw, ow	ow in "cow"
เ–าะ	''sara o''		o	orh, oh, or	o in "not"
เ–ีย	''sara ia''		ia	ear, ere, ie	ea in "ear"
เ–ียะ	''sara ia''		ia	iah, ear, ie	ea in "ear" with glottal stop
เ–ียว	''sara iao''		iao	eaw, iew, iow	io in "trio"
เ–ือ	''sara uea''		uea	eua, ua, ue	ure in "pure"
เ–ือะ	''sara uea''		uea	eua, ua	ure in "pure"
แ–	''sara ae''		ae	a	a in "ham"
แ–ะ	''sara ae''		ae	aeh, a	a in "at"
แ–็ –	''sara ae''		ae	aeh, a	a in "at"
แ–ว	''sara aeo''		aeo	aew, eo	a in "ham" + ow in "low"
โ–	''sara o''		o	or, oh	o in "go"
โ–ะ	''sara o''		o	oh	o in "poke"
ใ–	''sara ai mai muan''		ai	ay, y	i in "I"
ไ–	''sara ai mai malai''		ai	ay, y	i in "I"

★ vowels or diphthongs written with consonant symbols

Diacritics

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; the tone marks themselves are derived from Indic numerals.

Symbol	Name	Meaning
ก่	''mai ek''	first tone mark
ก้	''mai tho''	second tone mark
ก๊	''mai tri''	third tone mark
ก๋	''mai chattawa''	fourth tone mark
ก็	''mai taikhu''	shortens vowel
ก์	''thanthakhat'', ''mai karan''	indicates silent letter

Other symbols

Symbol	Name	Meaning
ฯ	''paiyaan noi''	preceding word is abbreviated
ฯลฯ	''paiyaan yai''	etc.
ๆ	''mai yamok''	preceding word or phrase is repeated

Sanskrit and Pali

The Thai script (like all Indic 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 of Thai 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, the ''pinthu'' อฺ (a solid dot under the consonant). This means that ''sara 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 มนฅร์ in Thai (and therefore pronounced ''mon''), but is written มนฺฅฺร in Sanskrit (and therefore pronounced ''mantra''). 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 ภะคะวา ''arahang sammasamputto phakhawa''.
In Thailand, Sanskrit is read out using the Thai values for all the consonants (so ค is read as ''kha'' and not [ga]), which makes Thai spoken Sanskrit incomprehensible to sanskritists not trained in Thailand. The Sanskrit values are used in transliteration (without the diacritics), 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 in this section, the Thai value (transliterated according to the Royal Thai system) of each letter is listed first, followed by the IAST value of each letter in square brackets. Remember that in Thailand, the IAST values are never used in pronunciation, but only in writing (with the diacritics omitted). This disjoint between written values and spoken values explains the romanisation for Sanskrit names in Thailand that many foreigners find confusing. For example, สุวรรณภูมิ is romanised as Suvarnabhumi, but pronounced ''su-wan-na-pum''. ศรีนครินทร์ is romanised as Srinagarindra but pronounced ''si-nakha-rin''.
'Plosives'(วรรค vargaḥ)
The plosives (also called stops) are listed in their traditional Sanskrit order. The Thai value is given first, and then the IAST value in square brackets.

class
velar	ก kà [ka]	ข khà [kha]	ค khá [ga]	ฆ khá [gha]	ง ngá [nga]
palatal	จ chà [ca]	ฉ chà [cha]	ช chá [ja]	ฌ chá [jha]	ญ yá [ña]
retroflex	ฏ tà [ṭa]	ฐ thà [ṭha]	ฑ tá [ḍa]	ฒ tá [ḍha]	ณ ná [ṇa]
dental	ฅ tà [ta]	ถ thà [tha]	ท thà [da]	ธ thá [dha]	น ná [na]
labial	ป pà [pa]	ผ phà [pha]	พ phá [ba]	ภ phá [bha]	ม má [ma]

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, Thais are unable to tell the difference between the retroflex and dental classes, because Thai has no retroflex consonants and all the retroflex consonants are in fact pronounced as if they are dental: thus ฏ is pronounced like ฅ, and ฐ is pronounced like ถ, and so forth.
'Non-plosives' (อวรรค avargaḥ)
''Semivowels and liquids'' (กี่งสระ)

series	symbol	value	related vowels
palatal	ย	ya [yá]	อิ and อี
retroflex	ร	ra [rá]	ฤ and ฤๅ
dental	ล	la [lá]	ฦ and ฦๅ
labial	ว	va [wá]	อุ and อู

The 'zero' 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 vowel ''o'' [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).
''Siblants'' (เสียดแทรก)

series	symbol	value
palatal	ศ	sà [śa]
retroflex	ษ	sà [ṣa]
dental	ส	sà [sa]

Like Sanskrit, Thai has no voiced siblant (so no 'z' or 'zh'). In modern Thai, the distinction between the three consonants has been lost and all three are pronounced 'sà'; however, foreign words with an sh-sound may still be transcribed as if the Sanskrit values still hold (e.g., ''ang-grit'' อังกฤษ for ''English'' instead of อังกฤส, say).
The consonant ฬ (''lo chu-la'') is only used to write Pali words, where it is used to represent the Pali consonant [ḷh] (IPA: ɭʰ). In modern Thai it is pronounced ''l''.
''Voiced h'' (มีหนักมีลม)

symbol	value
ห	ha

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.
'Vowels' (สระ)
Thai Sanskrit has only 12 vowels.

symbol	value
อ	''a'' [a]
อา	''a'' [ā]
อิ	i [i]
อี	i [ī]
อุ	u [u]
อู	u [ū]
เอ	e [e]
โอ	o [o]
ฤ	ru [ṛ]
ฤๅ	ru [ṝ]
ฦ	lu [ḷ]
ฦๅ	lu [ḹ]

All consonants have an inherent 'a' sound, and therefore in practice the ะ symbol is never used. The Thai vowels อื, ไอ, ใอ, and so forth, are not used to write Sanskrit. When อ occurs in Sanskrit, it is always the 'zero' consonant and never the vowel ''o'' [ɔː]. The 'zero' 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 vowel ''o'' [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 vowels อำ and อึ occur in Sanskrit, but only as the combination of the pure vowels ''sara a'' อา or ''sara i'' อิ with ''nikhahit'' อํ.
'Other symbols'
There are a number of additional symbols only used to write Sanskrit or Pali, and not used in writing Thai.
''Nikhahit'' นิคหิฅฺ (anusvāra)

Symbol	IAST
อํ	ṃ

In Sanskrit, the anusvāra indicates that the preceding vowel be nasalised. In Thai this is written as an open circle above the consonant. Nasalisation does not occur in Thai, therefore, a nasal consonant is substituted instead: e.g. ฅํ taṃ, is pronounced as ฅัง ''tang'' by Thai sanskritists. If nikhahit occurs before a consonant, then Thai uses a nasal consonant of the same class: e.g. สํสฺกฺฤฅา [saṃskṛta] is read as สันสกฤฅา ''san-si-ki-ta'' (The ส following the nikhahit is a dental class consonant, therefore the dental class nasal consonant น is used). For this reason, it has been suggested that in Thai, nikhahit should be listed as a consonant.^[1] ''Nikhahit'' นิคหิฅ occurs as part of the vowels ''sara am'' อำ and ''sara ue'' อึ.
''Pinthu'' พินทุ (virāma)
อฺ
Because the Thai script is an abugida, a symbol (equivalent to virāma in devanagari) needs to be added to indicate that the implied vowel is not to be pronounced. This is the pinthu, which is a solid dot below the consonant.
''Yamakkan'' ยมกกัน
อ๎
Yamakkan is an obsolete symbol used to mark the beginning of consonant clusters: e.g. พ๎ราห๎มณ ''phramana'' [brāhmaṇa]. Without the yamakkan, this word would be pronounced ''pharahamana'' [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 because ''pinthu'' may be used to achieve the same effect: พฺราหฺมณ.
''Visarga''
The means of recording visarga (final voiceless 'h') in Thai has been lost.

Thai in computing

TIS-620 is the best-established character set and character encoding for the Thai alphabet. TIS-620 has been adopted verbatim in the Unicode range for Thai, 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

๰

๱

๲

๳

๴

๵

๶

๷

๸

๹

๺

๻

๼

๽

๾

๿

See also

★ Thai language

★ Thai language: Script: Transliteration

★
★ Royal Thai General System of Transcription

★
★ ISO 11940

★ Thai numerals

★ Thailand

External links

★ Omniglot - Thai

★ Virtual Thai Keyboard Freeware

★ Thai Alphabet

★ Transliterations for Thai Vowels, Thai Consonants, and Alternative Presentation of Thai Consonants, by Richard Wordingham