In September last year on the forum we were discussing the Thai Chinese Vegetarian Festival/food.

I have the following entries:

1. AHAN CHE ( อาหารเจ).

2. CHAE (แจ).

3. KIN CHE (กินเจ).

All relate to the same thing.

I was wondering why (2) has แจ, but the other two have เจ. Can both be used?

I understand the meaning of the words.

Thank you for your help.

#2 is a typing error. In the South of Thailand (and possibly elsewhere) the two vowels are pronounced identically in some dialects, so someone spelling based upon pronunciation alone could get this wrong.

#1 is noun, #3 verb.

Dear Oxx,

Thank you for your reply. Actually, I am not sure that this is a typing error, because I noticed that it is used in the following:

https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/เทศกาลกินเจ

http://www.thai-language.com/dict

If you can work out why, I would appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

Hmmm. The RID gives both forms. It also indicates that the Chinese pronunciation is แจ (though a previous version of the dictionary [1999] says the Chinese pronunciation is เจ).

However, searching Google for แจ doesn't bring up anything of relevance in the first few pages. Many of the entries are for the Honda jazz.

Searching for "อาหารแจ" only brings up 7,000 results. "อาหารเจ" brings up 425,000 results. Using KIN, rather than AHAN the figures are 15,500 and 379,000 respectively. The KIN JAE results, however, are all suspect - dictionary listings from Longdo and Sanook (both of which I consider very unreliable), and spurious results such as ลีโอปาร์ด สกิน แจสเปอร์ (Leopard Skin Jasper - a stone).

If the RID says JAE is acceptable, who am I to disagree with them, but in practice it's very rarely used.

Dear Oxx,

Thank you very much for all that research you have done on my behalf.

I will enter it as เจ, with แจ behind it in brackets.

Much appreciated.