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Low class consonant · letter 30 of 44

พ pho phan

พ (pho phan) is a low-class consonant named after พาน, “offering tray”. At the start of a syllable it is /pʰ/, written ph in RTGS; at the end of one it is /p̚/ (p).

See it in 61 fontsAll 44 consonants
พพ พานpho phan · offering tray
Thai name
พ พาน · pho phan
Name word
พาน, offering tray
Class
Low class
At the start of a syllable
/pʰ/ · RTGS ph
At the end of a syllable
/p̚/ · RTGS p
Unicode
U+0E1E · THAI CHARACTER PHO PHAN
In HTML
พ or พ
Kedmanee key
R
Pattachote key
/

How it sounds

The common low-class ph. ผ is its high-class partner.

2 other letters have the same sound at the start of a syllable: ผ pho phueng (high), ภ pho samphao (low).

Easy to mistake for ฟ fo fan and ผ pho phueng: 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 พ and the vowel า
SpellingSyllableTone
No mark, live syllable (long vowel)พาMid
No mark, dead syllable, short vowelพะHigh
No mark, dead syllable, long vowelพากFalling
Mai ekพ่าFalling
Mai thoพ้าHigh
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 พ

ThaiRTGSMeaning
พ่อphofather
พี่phiolder brother or sister
พักphakto rest; to stay
พรุ่งนี้phrungnitomorrow
พบphopto meet, to find

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

พ 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.