Shangri Lingua

How to say “corner” in Thai

มุม

mum

/mum/

มุม means corner, angle.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

This covers a street corner, the corner of a room, and an angle in geometry.

Reading the romanization: the mark over a vowel shows its tone. bp and dt are a p and a t with no puff of air, while plain p, t and k have the puff. The IPA shows the exact sounds, and Learn the IPA explains how to read it.

Examples

  • ร้านอยู่ตรงมุมถนน

    ráan yòo dtrong mum tà-nǒn/ráːn jùː troŋ mum tʰà.nǒn/

    The shop is on the street corner.

How it’s spelled

Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of มุม in the order you’d write it.

  • ม

    “m” starts the word.

    mo ma, from ม้า (horse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, a second loop at the bottom left, and a W-shaped base. Compare น.

  •  ุ

    The vowel “short u”. Hangs below the consonant.

    sara u

    A small hook below the line.

  • ม

    “m” ends the word.

    mo ma, from ม้า (horse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, a second loop at the bottom left, and a W-shaped base. Compare น.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ม, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “m”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. Low class and live gives a mid tone.

New to consonant classes and live or dead syllables? See how Thai tones work.

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches มุม in its Thai writing course. You write the word one letter at a time, with your finger or Apple Pencil, and the app checks each letter and gives you more help if you get stuck. Get it on the App Store.

More basic words

Browse all Thai vocabulary.