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Low class consonant · letter 12 of 44

ฌ cho choe

ฌ (cho choe) is a low-class consonant named after เฌอ, “tree”. At the start of a syllable it is /tɕʰ/, written ch in RTGS; at the end of one it is /t̚/ (t).

See it in 61 fontsAll 44 consonants
ฌฌ เฌอcho choe · tree
Thai name
ฌ เฌอ · cho choe
Name word
เฌอ, tree
Class
Low class
At the start of a syllable
/tɕʰ/ · RTGS ch
At the end of a syllable
/t̚/ · RTGS t
Unicode
U+0E0C · THAI CHARACTER CHO CHOE
In HTML
ฌ or ฌ
Kedmanee key
Shift + G
Pattachote key
]

How it sounds

One of the rarest letters. It is found mostly in words that came into Thai from Pali and Sanskrit. Its name word เฌอ, an old word for a tree, is hardly used outside the alphabet.

It almost never ends a syllable; where it does, it is read t.

2 other letters have the same sound at the start of a syllable: ฉ cho ching (high), ช cho chang (low).

Class and tone

With no mark, a low-class letter gives the mid tone in a live syllable; in a dead one the tone is high when the vowel is short and falling when it is long. Mai ek gives falling and mai tho high.

Syllables with ฌ and the vowel า
SpellingSyllableTone
No mark, live syllable (long vowel)ฌาMid
No mark, dead syllable, short vowelฌะHigh
No mark, dead syllable, long vowelฌากFalling
Mai ekฌ่าFalling
Mai thoฌ้าHigh
Mai tri–not used with this class
Mai chattawa–not used with this class

The syllables show the rule, not words to learn. The tone rules explain live and dead syllables.

Words with ฌ

ThaiRTGSMeaning
ฌานchandeep meditation
ฌาปนกิจchapanakitcremation
ฌาปนสถานchapanasathancrematorium
อุปัชฌาย์upatchayapreceptor (the monk who ordains)

RTGS shows neither tone nor vowel length; type a word into the font tester to see it in every font.

ฌ in every font

The letter in each of the 61 families you can download here, in its regular style. Looped faces start the stroke from a small circle; loopless ones leave it out. Each card opens the family’s page.