Thai Words Used In English

[Indra]

Yeah, but Siam is simply the old name for the country. I don't know if that really counts. I was going to say pad Thai and tom yum goong but those are kind of a grey area also. Bong is a good one though!

Siam (สยาม), although it is an old name of Thailand, but it is still commonly known by Thai people as well as foreigner.

In Indonesia, people know "jeruk siam" (Siam Orange)

[Indra]

How about 'sarong' - made common (ish) knowledge in the UK by David Beckham a few years ago?

pretty that is Indian, Hindi

I think that "Sarong" (or "Sarung" in Indonesia language) is a common word in South East Asia.

People in Indonesia use Sarung as their traditional wear.

[Indra]

I use the words sawadee khrap all the time here, in England. Ok most people reply with a puzzling look, but, I feel if I use to enough times, they may add them to the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

What a weird idea to popularize a foreign word

However, I appreciate of your love to Thai language

[Tedhead]

I like this thread.

So it seems that we have "muay thai" and "mai thai" and not much else.  And even these are suspect, in my opinion, as they are describing Thai things, albeit things that have a somewhat universal appeal.

In the US, many people understand a number of Thai food dishes and use them while at a Thai restaurant, but that is people speaking actual Thai, not using words in the normal lexicon.

"Ganja" is Sanskrit and "tuk tuk" originates from India as well (also, tuk tuk is not commonally used, as far as I know, in other countries. It certainly is not used in the US.)

"Thai stick" is used as a descriptive, as is "Siamese cat."  Neither of these two are used in spoken Thai.

The only word suggested that I could find that's been authenticated as being of Thai origin and has been assimilated into the English language is 'bong'. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language acknowledges 'bong' as originating from the Thai word 'baung'.

[grandpops]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

i hear the word "yet" often.

As in "you try the new beer Chang yet"

What about Key?

Nearly OT, White elephant originated here.

[HTWoodson]

I like this thread.

So it seems that we have "muay thai" and "mai thai" and not much else. And even these are suspect, in my opinion, as they are describing Thai things, albeit things that have a somewhat universal appeal.

In the US, many people understand a number of Thai food dishes and use them while at a Thai restaurant, but that is people speaking actual Thai, not using words in the normal lexicon.

"Ganja" is Sanskrit and "tuk tuk" originates from India as well (also, tuk tuk is not commonally used, as far as I know, in other countries. It certainly is not used in the US.)

"Thai stick" is used as a descriptive, as is "Siamese cat." Neither of these two are used in spoken Thai.

The only word suggested that I could find that's been authenticated as being of Thai origin and has been assimilated into the English language is 'bong'. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language acknowledges 'bong' as originating from the Thai word 'baung'.

I would have to argue that Siamese falls into that category as well. First, Thai people don't use the "ese" part at the end of the word, they would just say Khon Siam or Pratheet Siam. The "ese" at the end is distinctive to English. Second, the word has taken on additional meaning in English that is not present in Thai.

From Dictionary.com:

adj.

1. Of or relating to Siam; Thai.
   
2. Closely connected or very similar; twin.
   
3. Of or being a Y-shaped dual connection between two pipes or hoses and a larger pipe or hose.
   

The second and third meanings above come from the use of the word in old carnival shows where conjoined twins in the freak show were billed as "Siamese Twins" to make them seem more exotic, whether they were really from Siam or not. The word has now evolved in English to mean something more, namely anything closely connected or very similar, as the the definition above says.

Siam in Thai is spelled สยาม and pronounced more like "sayaam".

So I would argue that because "Siamese", as it is used and pronounced in English, is not actually a word used or pronounced in the Thai language, and because it has a definition exclusive to English that Thai people would not be familiar with, it should qualify as a genuine borrowed word, not just the old name of the country.

[t.s]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

i hear the word "yet" often.

As in "you try the new beer Chang yet"

What about Key?

Nearly OT, White elephant originated here.

we all have a keyhole

common rural wisdom states that staring through one excessively can lead to conjunctivitis

Edited February 15, 2009 by t.s

[HTWoodson]

Here's a little bit more.

The origins of the term "Siamese Twins" were the brothers Chang and Eng Bunker. Here's the Wikipedia article about them: Chang and Eng Bunker.

Also, the Online Etymology Dictionary allows you to do a search by language, though it doesn't work very well. It only came back with 3 results for "Thai"

Thai

1808, native name, from Tai, lit. "free." Thai stick "Asian marijuana cigarette" is attested by 1976.

Pathet Lao

Communist guerrilla movement and political party in Laos, 1954, from Laotian Thai, lit. "Land of the Lao."

bong

"water pipe for marijuana," 1960s, U.S. slang, said to have been introduced by Vietnam veterans, from Thai baung, lit. "cylindrical wooden tube."

[oevna]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

"mai thai"

...

I've heard several people here propose "Mai Thai" as a possibility, but unfortunately it is not.

It is actually spelled Mai Tai, and it's a Tahitian word, not Thai (it comes from the Tahitian word Maita'i, which means "good"). The beverage called a Mai Tai was allegedly invented at Trader Vic's restaurant and bar in Oakland, California by its founder, Victor Bergeron.

See here for more details.

If we are going to allow Muay Thai, pad Thai, tom yam, etc., then there are a *lot* of Thai words in English. Just look, as somebody already suggested, at a Thai restaurant's menu.

I would say that words like sarong are debatable. I would count a word if it came into the English language first through contact with Thailand and Thai language. However, if a word came into English via Hindi, and it coincidentally exists in Thai as well, then it shouldn't be counted.

A perfect candidate would be something like the word boondocks, which comes from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain." That word came into the English language when US soldiers were stationed in the Philippines during World War II. There must be some words like that from soldiers on R&R in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Can anyone think of anything from that era?

[Screws]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

"mai thai"

'English' adopts new words every year. 45% of the vocabulary are directly French words.

canoe, moccasin and many more were aboriginal words. we used to say 'tidal wave' but have adopted 'tsunami'

People have been drinking 'Mai Thais' for decades. In our household, miaOW is used a LOT, and Alena oyieeEE is used as a greeting. only when I say it, it, apparently, means 'get me a fork' <

If you Google new words, you can find the list of new words that get added every year and see if they let you search by nation

It would be very, very difficult to add Thai words. Some are impossible to spell in English.

mayow miaough ??? also, even if you get the spelling right, the 'word' can have 5 different meanings. English 'inflections' would have to be invented.

mai mai mai mai mai, if said right, means will you get me some firewood dear? [or something like that]

I cannot call a Thai friend by his nickname Jiow jiau jeyow. I have to use his given name.

It is supposed to mean 'eagle'. In the same way some Thais cannot say rrr, I cannot say jiaow so it comes out right. it comes out as 'dirt' or something.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=ne...Search&meta=

For example, farang will probably get in the dictionary someday, or would that be falang?

f'lang

[Screws]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

Money rarley if ever needs no translation.

Taxi was a good one.

Bangkok

cd

dvd

dop

Who are you calling a dop?

[xenomorph]

Since there are a lot of people from my country coming to Thailand on holiday, most of them are familiar with the word "kathoey" (ladyboy). I think this word is slowly being adopted among the equivalent "ladyboy" community as well in my country. After all... Thailand is world famous for their kathoeys, so why couldn't it be adopted by the rest of the world just like the japanese word "tsunami"?

[bonobo]

I like this thread.

So it seems that we have "muay thai" and "mai thai" and not much else.  And even these are suspect, in my opinion, as they are describing Thai things, albeit things that have a somewhat universal appeal.

In the US, many people understand a number of Thai food dishes and use them while at a Thai restaurant, but that is people speaking actual Thai, not using words in the normal lexicon.

"Ganja" is Sanskrit and "tuk tuk" originates from India as well (also, tuk tuk is not commonally used, as far as I know, in other countries. It certainly is not used in the US.)

"Thai stick" is used as a descriptive, as is "Siamese cat."  Neither of these two are used in spoken Thai.

Sorry I forgot "bong."  That word is an absolute fit for the OP's question.

[bonobo]

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

"mai thai"

...

I've heard several people here propose "Mai Thai" as a possibility, but unfortunately it is not.

It is actually spelled Mai Tai, and it's a Tahitian word, not Thai (it comes from the Tahitian word Maita'i, which means "good"). The beverage called a Mai Tai was allegedly invented at Trader Vic's restaurant and bar in Oakland, California by its founder, Victor Bergeron.

See here for more details.

If we are going to allow Muay Thai, pad Thai, tom yam, etc., then there are a *lot* of Thai words in English. Just look, as somebody already suggested, at a Thai restaurant's menu.

I would say that words like sarong are debatable. I would count a word if it came into the English language first through contact with Thailand and Thai language. However, if a word came into English via Hindi, and it coincidentally exists in Thai as well, then it shouldn't be counted.

A perfect candidate would be something like the word boondocks, which comes from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain." That word came into the English language when US soldiers were stationed in the Philippines during World War II. There must be some words like that from soldiers on R&R in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Can anyone think of anything from that era?

THanks for clearing up the mai tai.  Scratch that one!

I would say that muay thai would sort-of fit while the menu items would not unless any menu item has gravited past the Thai menu and into normal usage.

"Muay thai" is sort of like "judo" and "baseball" and "jai alai."  These words desribe a sport which has since spread. 

As a member of the US military since the mid-seventies, most of the foreing-originated slang words I have heard use tend to have come from Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean.  Off-hand, I can't think of any Thai words.  The US Marines, though, quite readily use a Communist Chinese phrase:  "gung ho."  

[pattaya_girl]

Percent ? When i listen to Thai people in converstation, I sometimes here 'percent' in the conversation !!!

[toasted]

I had cause to use the word Thai word 'prik' the other day, but I wasn't talking about chillis.

[njpski]

Lots of interesting ideas put forward but when I think of what constitutes a word in one language being used in "everyday use" in another language i think of words like "rendezvous" from French. Thai has lots of proper nouns used internationally (Siam, Muay Thai, items on a thai food menu etc...) , but I cant really think of any common nouns or verbs...that bong example was a good one though.

The best I have, and this is just trivia, not a word in use in the English language, is the great race horse Phar Lap ( ฟ้าแลบ ) , it is thai for lightning. I'm sure you could use that word in some cockney rhyming slang somehow

Phar Lap is also used for a red pouring condiment = Phar Lap is a dead horse = dead horse rhyming slang for Toamato Sauce

[Richard W]

Durian sounds the same in Thai and English to me mate

Malaysian?

Yep. /d/ > /th/ suggests it's a fairly old loan from Malay to Thai.

[Richard W]

How about 'sarong' - made common (ish) knowledge in the UK by David Beckham a few years ago?

pretty that is Indian, Hindi

The Thai Royal Institute Dictionary derives the Thai word from Malay.

[oevna]

Durian sounds the same in Thai and English to me mate

Malaysian?

Yep. /d/ > /th/ suggests it's a fairly old loan from Malay to Thai.

Well, /d/ -> /th/ occurs in many Indic loanwords too. For example, nearly all Thai words of Sanskrit or Pali origin that start with /d/ are rendered /th/ in Thai, as Thai uses ท to represent this letter. Examples:

• pradesh -> ประเทศ bpratet
  
• devata -> เทวดา tewadaa
  
• dukkha -> ทุกข์ tuk
  

The only counterexample I can think of offhand is the word Hindu, which is spelled ฮืนดู Hinduu in Thai, perhaps to preserve the pronunciation, but if strictly transliterated should be spelled หินทู in Thai.

The thing that makes me doubt that durian comes from an Indic language (at least from Sanskrit or Pali) is that it contains the diphthong ia เอีย, which is absent in Sanskrit and Pali. The Wikipedia article on Durian says that it comes from Maylay, and since that is more similar to the way that we pronounce it (i.e. with a 'd' as its first letter instead of 't'), I think it is likely that we got it from Malay, or a related language.