Thai Word For "root" Or "stem" Of A Word

[foolforlove]

i've learned the thai words for "prefix" and "suffix", but what is the thai word to say "the root of a word" or "the stem of a word"?

[Jay_Jay]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

Edited December 18, 2008 by Jay_Jay

[foolforlove]

thanks thats exactly what i was looking for!

[tgeezer]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

From the definition of รากศัพท์ I found คำอุปสรรค and คำปัจจัย are these prefix and suffix?

[foolforlove]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

From the definition of รากศัพท์ I found คำอุปสรรค and คำปัจจัย are these prefix and suffix?

I've successfully(?) used these words for

prefix คำเสริมหน้า

suffix คำต่อท้าย

[Jay_Jay]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

From the definition of รากศัพท์ I found คำอุปสรรค and คำปัจจัย are these prefix and suffix?

I've successfully(?) used these words for

prefix คำเสริมหน้า

suffix คำต่อท้าย

Yeah - I think in general conversation, คำเสริมหน้า and ต่อท้าย will work ok. I put a list of คำอุปสรรค up on the net a few years back. I would love to bring these back into the Thai education system in a 'fun' way. Having a good grasp of them lets one start to be more creative with their language.

When I'm putting training programmes together, I've often invented new words based on the Sanskrit particles. Upon first hearing them, there's a little bit of a startled look... but I think it's more because the participants think that I'm using a real word that they ought to know! After hearing it a few times, I can go on and use it as the regular term for whatever it is that I'm speaking about.

One such term that I've coined came from need to find a nice สั้นกระชับ word for "Activity oriented" versus "Results Oriented". Results oriented is used a lot in business and personal development books - 'เน้นผล', but I wasn't taken by the "Activity Oriented" words used... so I started using เน้นกิจ versus เน้นผล.

I've been using that pair in particular for about 7 years now and so far haven't had any complaints

[tgeezer]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

From the definition of รากศัพท์ I found คำอุปสรรค and คำปัจจัย are these prefix and suffix?

I've successfully(?) used these words for

prefix คำเสริมหน้า

suffix คำต่อท้าย

That's good enough then, I was curious to know what you used. I was told by a Thai that อุปศรรค was prefix and I looked up ปัจจัย just now and among other meanings it says that it is suffix. If you wanted to use either for real อุปสรรคทราย is a sand hazard in golf and ปัจจัย is interchangeable with เหตุ apparently.

[tgeezer]

ธาตุ - /that/ .. from the Sanskrit word dhatu धातु

... but don't expect your average Thai to know what you're talking about if you ask them what the ธาตุ of a certain word is. The other word that is commonly used is รากศัพท์ - rak sap - 'root word'. When getting into deep and meaningful language discussions with Thais, this is normally used in reference to the etymologies of the Sanskrit words / particles in a word.

From the definition of รากศัพท์ I found คำอุปสรรค and คำปัจจัย are these prefix and suffix?

I've successfully(?) used these words for

prefix คำเสริมหน้า

suffix คำต่อท้าย

Yeah - I think in general conversation, คำเสริมหน้า and ต่อท้าย will work ok. I put a list of คำอุปสรรค up on the net a few years back. I would love to bring these back into the Thai education system in a 'fun' way. Having a good grasp of them lets one start to be more creative with their language.

When I'm putting training programmes together, I've often invented new words based on the Sanskrit particles. Upon first hearing them, there's a little bit of a startled look... but I think it's more because the participants think that I'm using a real word that they ought to know! After hearing it a few times, I can go on and use it as the regular term for whatever it is that I'm speaking about.

One such term that I've coined came from need to find a nice สั้นกระชับ word for "Activity oriented" versus "Results Oriented". Results oriented is used a lot in business and personal development books - 'เน้นผล', but I wasn't taken by the "Activity Oriented" words used... so I started using เน้นกิจ versus เน้นผล.

I've been using that pair in particular for about 7 years now and so far haven't had any complaints

Interesting this, from what I see there is only one word เน้น it is a verb and a modifier; in front of a word it would be a verb wouldn't it? Seems to mean emphasize as a verb in เน้นผล but two words. A prefix would appear as a complete word wouldn't it? The prefix ประ seems similar to เน้น.

[Hardie]

I'm no expert, but given the shortage of input, I'll add my two cents. 1) Being primarily a monosyllabic language, Thai doesn't really have roots nor prefixes and suffixes as such, bound forms used no other way. They have additional words that clarify meaning. 2) Sanskrit words with affixes might have been borrowed as such and probably shouldn't be dissected after the fact. English terms are borrowed already-inflected frequently, e.g. 'American', 'bowling', English, etc. 3) Re-inventing Thai by manipulating Sanskrit is dubious at best. Thai is typically re-invented every time somebody uses an English word in a Thai sentence.

As far as I know the following words are most commonly used in the following ways:

ปัจจัย- (contributing) factor

ธาตุ- element

อุปสรรค- obstacle (with sand= sand trap)

Good luck!

[tgeezer]

I'm no expert, but given the shortage of input, I'll add my two cents. 1) Being primarily a monosyllabic language, Thai doesn't really have roots nor prefixes and suffixes as such, bound forms used no other way. They have additional words that clarify meaning. 2) Sanskrit words with affixes might have been borrowed as such and probably shouldn't be dissected after the fact. English terms are borrowed already-inflected frequently, e.g. 'American', 'bowling', English, etc. 3) Re-inventing Thai by manipulating Sanskrit is dubious at best. Thai is typically re-invented every time somebody uses an English word in a Thai sentence.

As far as I know the following words are most commonly used in the following ways:

ปัจจัย- (contributing) factor

ธาตุ- element

อุปสรรค- obstacle (with sand= sand trap)

Good luck!

I know what you mean although ความ การ are doing a perfect job they are complete words. I was wrong ประ is described as คำเติมหน้า whereas ปริ is a อุปสรรค but when you find a word you know like ปริกรรม you are directed to บริกรรม but the meaning is not changed from ปริ There is no need for me to state that I am no expert as you can see. It is just a way of trying to get the English out of Thai and find my way round the dictionary. It is tiny words, easy to remember but hard to grasp in a definition which hopefully, I am assimilating.