My understanding of the word กระจก is that it means “glass” (the material).

 

For example Thais will ask me if I want plastic or กระจก when buying water bottles.

 

Yet they also use กระจก to refer to a mirror, the full word is กระจกเงา (“reflective glass”) but I have never heard a Thai use that word.

 

Windows are also commonly referred to as กระจก which is a bit confusing to me because I have both mirrors and windows in my apartment, so how would the maid know what to clean when I ask them to clean กระจก? Hence I have used หน้าต่าง to refer to windows, but was recently told that this is wrong, I asked why, and was told something along the lines of “because they do not open”, which is true, most of my so-called “windows” do not open, so for a Thai, these might just be “glass”.

 

But then I heard someone refer to sitting at the หน้าต่าง in an airplane, so it seems that หน้าต่าง is not just “glass on a building that can be opened”.

 

So I was wondering, does anyone have a good definition of the word หน้าต่าง?

 

Separating the word into หน้า and ต่าง I am thinking that it originally was used simply to refer to any “hole” in the front of the house (prior to the availability of glass), so today it might be broadly used for “holes” in the facade including balcony doors but excluding glass that cannot be opened, but also to something that is very clearly made for a person to “look outside” (like an airplane window, unlike say, a bigger piece of glass that is not really something you sit by and look out of).

 

I normally get around this confusion by referring to the glass windows as "หน้าต่างกระจก".

From the Royal Institute Dictionary:

"หน้าต่าง น. ช่องฝาบ้านหรือเรือนเป็นต้นที่เปิดปิดได้ สำหรับรับแสงสว่างหรือให้อากาศถ่ายเทได้ แต่มิใช่ทางสำหรับเข้าออก."
". . . noun. an opening in the wall of a house or building, for example, which can be opened and closed to allow light and air to pass through, but it is not an opening for entering or leaving [the house or building]." 

 

In many homes,  "windows" open and close with wooden shutters and do not have glass panes. Most rural Thai schools have this type of windows.  These are "หน้าต่าง".

"กระจก ๑ น. แก้วที่ทำเป็นแผ่น
". . . noun. glass formed in the shape of a flat pane."

If a windows is glazed with a glass pane, then it is a กระจก. As noted above, กระจก is  also used for "mirror".

Thanks for the this definition.

 

For the records, I asked a semi-random Thai to explain to me “what is what”, her definition was not that far from the dictionary above, but then I asked, what you sit next to in an airplane, and she used the word หน้าต่าง for that.

Perhaps some clarification. I do not think that and หน้าต่าง are mutually exclusive (i.e. A not B; B not A). Rather both glass-paned and non-glass widows are หน้าต่าง. However,  only glass-paned  windows can be กระจก. In other words, กระจก used to mean "window" is a subset of หน้าต่าง.

Finally, and I  would ask for comments on this, a หน้าต่าง refers to the window as a whole opening to the outside of a house or building; กระจก could refer to the glass portion of the window. One website sells "หน้าต่างกระจกอลูมิเนียม" means "aluminum and glass windows."

Interesting topic and thanks for the explanations. 

 

On หน้าต่างกระจกอลูมิเนียม, could that rather refer to an aluminum frame that holds a glass window? 

From the definitions already gathered here for หน้าต่าง it is clear that it doesn't necessarily have to hold a glass screen. By including กระจก however, they make it clear that it indeed holds a glass screen and that it is not only a full on aluminum window shutter.

 

I am missing the "and" on your interpretation DavidHouston but am not sure either. 

When it comes to modern usage refer to the English first. Aeroplanes have window seats, window is หน้าต่าง , forget the opening part of the Thai definition. Aluminium windows refers to the frame, หน้าต่างกระจกอลูมิเนียม are probably those. The definition says that a window allows for ventilation and light but light is the main factor in modern buildings and aeroplanes.


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