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Low class consonant · letter 4 of 44

ค kho khwai

ค (kho khwai) is a low-class consonant named after ควาย, “water buffalo”. At the start of a syllable it is /kʰ/, written kh in RTGS; at the end of one it is /k̚/ (k).

See it in 61 fontsAll 44 consonants
คค ควายkho khwai · water buffalo
Thai name
ค ควาย · kho khwai
Name word
ควาย, water buffalo
Class
Low class
At the start of a syllable
/kʰ/ · RTGS kh
At the end of a syllable
/k̚/ · RTGS k
Unicode
U+0E04 · THAI CHARACTER KHO KHWAI
In HTML
ค or ค
Kedmanee key
8
Pattachote key
N

How it sounds

The everyday letter for the aspirated kh sound in low-class words. ข is its high-class partner.

4 other letters have the same sound at the start of a syllable: ข kho khai (high), ฃ kho khuat (high), ฅ kho khon (low), ฆ kho rakhang (low).

Easy to mistake for ด do dek, ศ so sala and ฅ kho khon: compare them at a large size in the grid below.

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 ค and the vowel า
SpellingSyllableTone
No mark, live syllable (long vowel)คาMid
No mark, dead syllable, short vowelคะHigh
No mark, dead syllable, long vowelคากFalling
Mai ekค่าFalling
Mai thoค้าHigh
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 ค

ThaiRTGSMeaning
คนkhonperson
คำkhamword
ครูkhruteacher
คิดkhitto think
โรคrokdisease

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

ค 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.