Just curious about this word and its orgins as I hear it all the time. Does it generally refer to carrying out religous duties or can it be used for more mundane uses like performing one's duties at work.

Also my basic reading skills tells me it should be pronounced something like Bpa dti bah-dtee and not just Bpa dti baht.

Am sure it's a word with an interesting etymology anyway.

Just curious about this word and its orgins as I hear it all the time. Does it generally refer to carrying out religous duties or can it be used for more mundane uses like performing one's duties at work.

Also my basic reading skills tells me it should be pronounced something like Bpa dti bah-dtee and not just Bpa dti baht.

Am sure it's a word with an interesting etymology anyway.

It should be pronounced ปะ ติ บัด

The word has Pali origins. As far as I know this word isn't limited to religious duties.

http://www.thai-language.com/id/134448

The origin of ปฏิบัติ is ปฎิปตติ (pa-ti-pa-thi), my keyboard doesn't allow me to type "." under "ต"

The under-dot (พินทุ) is shift-b on the Kedmanee keyboard, Virin. So the original Pali word as rendered in Thai script is ปฏิปตฺติ. You could also copy and paste it from the Royal Institute Dictionary entry for ปฏิบัติ.

Edited July 20, 200817 yr by Rikker

Thanks for replies. Thai etymology is certainly very interesting.

Also found another word (ชาติ) which should according to me be pronounced Chaatee but is just Chaat. Oh well, I don't even know tone rules properly so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it

A huge number of Indic words (Pali and Sanskrit) have been borrowed into Thai. Many times, the final vowel อิ in Thai is written, but not pronounced. In cases like this, it's pronounced as if it weren't written at all, so while ชาติ strictly would be ชา-ติ (mid-tone, low-tone), it's actually pronounced like ชาด (falling tone).

Here's a short list of silent final อิ off the top of my head:

ปฏิบัติ

ชาติ

ประวัติ

ภูมิ (when it comes at the end of a compound, like สุวรรณภูมิ [สุ-วัน-นะ-พูม] or มาตุภูมิ [มา-ตุ-พูม]; it's often pronounced when it comes first, as in ภูมิประเทศ [พู-มิ-ประ-เทด])

It's not just final อิ, though, final อุ is sometimes, as in เหตุการณ์ or สาเหตุ.

These are all caused by trying to retain the Indic spelling while using the Thai pronunciation.