The Thai alphabet
Thai is written with 44 consonant letters and a set of vowel signs that sit before, after, above or below them, plus four tone marks. This page has every one of them in tables: names, sounds, classes and the forms the vowels take. Pick any font from the collection to see the whole alphabet in it, and follow a letter to its own page.
What the Thai script is
Thai is written left to right in a script that grew out of Old Khmer writing in the thirteenth century, and through it from the scripts of southern India. Tradition credits King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai with creating it in 1283. It has no capital letters, and words run together without spaces; a space marks the end of a phrase.
The script is an abugida: the consonants are the letters of the alphabet, and vowels are signs written around them. A vowel can sit after the consonant (กา), before it (เก), above it (กิ), below it (กุ), or on more than one side at once (เกีย). The order you read in is not always the order you see: in เก the vowel is written first but said after the k.
There are 44 consonants, of which ฃ and ฅ are obsolete. They stand for 21 sounds at the start of a syllable and only six at the end (k, t, p, m, n and ng, plus the glides y and w), so many letters share a sound. Each letter has a name word, the way “A for apple” works in English: ก is ko kai, “ko as in kai, chicken”.
Thai has five tones and four tone marks. The tone of a syllable comes from three things working together: the class of its first consonant (mid, high or low), whether the syllable is live or dead, and any tone mark. The tone rules guide has the whole system; the tables below give each letter’s class.
How to read the tables
- Sounds are given twice: in the International Phonetic Alphabet between slashes, and in the Royal Thai General System (RTGS), the official romanisation you see on road signs. RTGS marks neither tone nor vowel length.
- kh, th, ph and ch in RTGS are aspirated sounds, as in “kit”, “top” and “pin”, never the th of “thin” or the ph of “phone”. k, t and p are unaspirated, as in “skin”, “stop” and “spin”.
- Final is the sound a letter makes when it ends a syllable. A dash means it is not used there.
- ◌ in a vowel form stands for a consonant. Vowels are named on the silent carrier อ, as Thai teachers name them: อา is the vowel า.
- The letters are coloured by class, as in the strip above: mid, high and low.
The 44 consonants
In alphabet order. Each letter links to a page with its sounds, its key on the keyboard, example words and the letter in every font in the collection.
| Letter | Name | Name word | Class | Initial | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ก | ko kaiก ไก่ | chicken | mid | /k/ k | /k̚/ k |
| ข | kho khaiข ไข่ | egg | high | /kʰ/ kh | /k̚/ k |
| ฃ | kho khuatฃ ขวด | bottleobsolete | high | /kʰ/ kh | – |
| ค | kho khwaiค ควาย | water buffalo | low | /kʰ/ kh | /k̚/ k |
| ฅ | kho khonฅ คน | personobsolete | low | /kʰ/ kh | – |
| ฆ | kho rakhangฆ ระฆัง | bell | low | /kʰ/ kh | /k̚/ k |
| ง | ngo nguง งู | snake | low | /ŋ/ ng | /ŋ/ ng |
| จ | cho chanจ จาน | plate | mid | /tɕ/ ch | /t̚/ t |
| ฉ | cho chingฉ ฉิ่ง | cymbals | high | /tɕʰ/ ch | – |
| ช | cho changช ช้าง | elephant | low | /tɕʰ/ ch | /t̚/ t |
| ซ | so soซ โซ่ | chain | low | /s/ s | /t̚/ t |
| ฌ | cho choeฌ เฌอ | tree | low | /tɕʰ/ ch | /t̚/ t |
| ญ | yo yingญ หญิง | woman | low | /j/ y | /n/ n |
| ฎ | do chadaฎ ชฎา | headdress | mid | /d/ d | /t̚/ t |
| ฏ | to patakฏ ปฏัก | goad | mid | /t/ t | /t̚/ t |
| ฐ | tho thanฐ ฐาน | pedestal | high | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| ฑ | tho monthoฑ มณโฑ | Montho, a queen in the Ramakien | low | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| ฒ | tho phuthaoฒ ผู้เฒ่า | elder | low | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| ณ | no nenณ เณร | novice monk | low | /n/ n | /n/ n |
| ด | do dekด เด็ก | child | mid | /d/ d | /t̚/ t |
| ต | to taoต เต่า | turtle | mid | /t/ t | /t̚/ t |
| ถ | tho thungถ ถุง | sack | high | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| ท | tho thahanท ทหาร | soldier | low | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| ธ | tho thongธ ธง | flag | low | /tʰ/ th | /t̚/ t |
| น | no nuน หนู | mouse | low | /n/ n | /n/ n |
| บ | bo baimaiบ ใบไม้ | leaf | mid | /b/ b | /p̚/ p |
| ป | po plaป ปลา | fish | mid | /p/ p | /p̚/ p |
| ผ | pho phuengผ ผึ้ง | bee | high | /pʰ/ ph | – |
| ฝ | fo faฝ ฝา | lid | high | /f/ f | – |
| พ | pho phanพ พาน | offering tray | low | /pʰ/ ph | /p̚/ p |
| ฟ | fo fanฟ ฟัน | teeth | low | /f/ f | /p̚/ p |
| ภ | pho samphaoภ สำเภา | junk (sailing ship) | low | /pʰ/ ph | /p̚/ p |
| ม | mo maม ม้า | horse | low | /m/ m | /m/ m |
| ย | yo yakย ยักษ์ | giant | low | /j/ y | /j/ i |
| ร | ro rueaร เรือ | boat | low | /r/ r | /n/ n |
| ล | lo lingล ลิง | monkey | low | /l/ l | /n/ n |
| ว | wo waenว แหวน | ring | low | /w/ w | /w/ o |
| ศ | so salaศ ศาลา | pavilion | high | /s/ s | /t̚/ t |
| ษ | so ruesiษ ฤๅษี | hermit | high | /s/ s | /t̚/ t |
| ส | so sueaส เสือ | tiger | high | /s/ s | /t̚/ t |
| ห | ho hipห หีบ | chest | high | /h/ h | – |
| ฬ | lo chulaฬ จุฬา | kite | low | /l/ l | /n/ n |
| อ | o angอ อ่าง | basin | mid | /ʔ/ (none) | – |
| ฮ | ho nokhukฮ นกฮูก | owl | low | /h/ h | – |
The three classes
Mid class 9 letters
อักษรกลาง akson klang
Mid-class letters are the only ones that take all four tone marks. With no mark, a live syllable has the mid tone and a dead one the low tone; mai ek gives low, mai tho falling, mai tri high and mai chattawa rising.
High class 11 letters
อักษรสูง akson sung
With no mark, a high-class letter gives a rising tone in a live syllable and a low tone in a dead one. Mai ek gives low and mai tho falling; the other two marks are not used.
The low class splits in two. Fourteen letters have a high-class twin with the same sound (ค and ข, ท and ถ); the other ten, the sonorants ง ญ ณ น ม ย ร ล ว ฬ, have none, and borrow high-class tones with a silent ห in front. The low consonants guide sorts them out.
Vowels
Thai vowels come in short and long pairs, and length changes meaning: ข้าว khâaw is rice, ข่าว khàaw is news, but เข้า khâw is to enter. A short vowel at the end of a syllable stops with a catch in the throat. Some vowels change shape when a final consonant follows; the last column shows how, with a word.
| Short | Long | Sound | RTGS | Where it sits | With a final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| อะ | อา | /a/, /aː/ | a | after | ◌ั◌ · กัน kan |
| อิ | อี | /i/, /iː/ | i | above | unchanged |
| อึ | อือ | /ɯ/, /ɯː/ | ue | above (long: อ after when nothing follows) | ◌ื◌ · ลืม luem |
| อุ | อู | /u/, /uː/ | u | below | unchanged |
| เอะ | เอ | /e/, /eː/ | e | before | เ◌็◌ · เด็ก dek |
| แอะ | แอ | /ɛ/, /ɛː/ | ae | before | แ◌็◌ · แข็ง khaeng |
| โอะ | โอ | /o/, /oː/ | o | before | no sign · คน khon |
| เอาะ | ออ | /ɔ/, /ɔː/ | o | around (long: อ after) | ◌็อ◌ · ล็อก lok |
| เออะ | เออ | /ɤ/, /ɤː/ | oe | around | เ◌ิ◌ · เดิน doen |
| เอียะ | เอีย | /iaʔ/, /ia/ | ia | around | unchanged |
| เอือะ | เอือ | /ɯaʔ/, /ɯa/ | uea | around | unchanged |
| อัวะ | อัว | /uaʔ/, /ua/ | ua | above and after | ◌ว◌ · สวน suan |
Vowels with their own ending, and the vowel letters
| Form | Sound | RTGS | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| อำ | /am/ | am | a short a with m; counts as live |
| ใอ | /aj/ | ai | used in twenty common words |
| ไอ | /aj/ | ai | the usual way to write ai |
| เอา | /aw/ | ao | a short a with w |
| ฤ | /rɯ, ri, rɤ/ | rue, ri, roe | vowel letter, in Sanskrit words |
| ฤๅ | /rɯː/ | rue | long form, rare |
| ฦ | /lɯ/ | lue | obsolete in practice |
| ฦๅ | /lɯː/ | lue | obsolete in practice |
Tone marks
A tone mark sits above the first consonant of the syllable (above its vowel sign, if it has one). What a mark does depends on the class of that consonant. Mai tri and mai chattawa are used only with mid-class letters. Without a mark, the tone depends on whether the syllable is live or dead; the tone rules cover that half.
| Mark | Name | On a mid letter | On a high letter | On a low letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| อ่ | mai ek ไม้เอก | Low tone | Low tone | Falling tone |
| อ้ | mai tho ไม้โท | Falling tone | Falling tone | High tone |
| อ๊ | mai tri ไม้ตรี | High tone | not used | not used |
| อ๋ | mai chattawa ไม้จัตวา | Rising tone | not used | not used |
Other marks
| Mark | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| อั | mai han-akat ไม้หันอากาศ | Writes a short a when a final consonant follows: กัน kan. |
| อ็ | mai taikhu ไม้ไต่คู้ | Shortens the vowel of เ– and แ– before a final: เด็ก dek. Also on ก็ ko, “then, also”. |
| อ์ | thanthakhat (karan) ทัณฑฆาต / การันต์ | Silences the letter under it, mostly in loanwords: ศุกร์ suk, สัปดาห์ sappada. |
| อํ | nikkhahit นิคหิต | An m or n sound in Pali and Sanskrit spellings; also the circle in ำ. |
| อฺ | phinthu พินทุ | Marks a consonant with no vowel when Pali or Sanskrit is written in Thai letters. |
| อ๎ | yamakkan ยามักการ | An older mark for a consonant cluster in Pali texts; rarely seen. |
| ๅ | lakkhangyao ลากข้างยาว | Lengthens ฤ and ฦ: ฤๅ, ฦๅ. |
Marks are shown on อ, the silent carrier, as the character sheets on the font pages show them.
Thai numerals
Thai has its own digits, used in official documents, on banknotes and coins, in dates and for a traditional look; everyday prices and phone numbers mostly use the digits 0 to 9.
- ๐0ศูนย์ sun
- ๑1หนึ่ง nueng
- ๒2สอง song
- ๓3สาม sam
- ๔4สี่ si
- ๕5ห้า ha
- ๖6หก hok
- ๗7เจ็ด chet
- ๘8แปด paet
- ๙9เก้า kao
Punctuation and signs
| Sign | Name | Use |
|---|---|---|
| ฯ | paiyan noi ไปยาลน้อย | marks a shortened word |
| ๆ | mai yamok ไม้ยมก | repeat the word before |
| ฿ | baht sign บาท | currency |
| ๏ | fong man ฟองมัน | opens a verse or section |
| ๚ | angkhan khu อังคั่นคู่ | closes a section |
| ๛ | khomut โคมูตร | closes a text |
Modern Thai also uses the Western question mark, quotation marks, brackets and full stop, mostly in less formal writing; the space does most of the work a comma does in English.
Questions people ask
How many letters are in the Thai alphabet?
There are 44 consonant letters, two of which (ฃ and ฅ) are no longer used. Vowels are written with signs placed around the consonant rather than as letters in the row, and there are four tone marks. Thai schools count the vowel forms separately; the vowel table lists the short and long pairs.
Which Thai letters are no longer used?
ฃ (kho khuat) and ฅ (kho khon). They had the same sounds and classes as ข and ค, which replaced them in every word. Both are still taught in their places in the alphabet and both keep a key on Thai keyboards.
Why does Thai have several letters for the same sound?
Partly history and partly spelling. Some letters stood for sounds that have since merged, and others were kept to spell words from Pali and Sanskrit the way they are spelled in those languages. The duplicates are not idle, though: letters with the same sound can belong to different classes, and the class decides the tone. That is why there is a high-class kh (ข) and a low-class kh (ค).
Does Thai put spaces between words?
No. Words in a phrase run together, and a space marks the end of a phrase or sentence, a little like a comma or full stop. Readers find the word boundaries from the spelling; software does it with a dictionary.
In what order are Thai words listed in a dictionary?
By consonant first, in the alphabet order shown here, then by vowel. A vowel written before the consonant does not count for the first sort, so เกิด is listed under ก.
How do I type the Thai alphabet?
Add a Thai keyboard to your computer or phone (the layouts guide has the steps for every system), or use our on-screen Thai keyboard, which also works with the keys of an English keyboard.
Type the alphabet, or see it in every font
The on-screen keyboard types Thai with the keys of any keyboard, and the font tester sets your own text in every family that can be downloaded here.