Shangri Lingua

How to say “crab” in Thai

ปู

bpoo

/puː/

ปู means crab.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

You’ll find it on seafood menus in dishes such as ปูผัดผงกะหรี่ (bpoo pàt pǒng gà-rèe), crab in yellow curry.

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

  • เด็กจับปูริมทะเล

    dèk jàp bpoo rim tá-lay/dèk t͡ɕàp puː rim tʰá.leː/

    The child catches crabs by the sea.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ป

    “bp” starts the word.

    po pla, from ปลา (fish)Mid class

    Same as บ, but the right side rises tall.

  •  ู

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

    sara uu

    Like sara u, with a loop added.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ป, which is mid class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends on a long vowel, which you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. Mid 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 ปู 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 animals

  • แมว

    maew/mɛːw/

    cat

  • หมา

    mǎa/mǎː/

    dog

  • ช้าง

    cháang/t͡ɕʰáːŋ/

    elephant

  • ม้า

    máa/máː/

    horse

  • งู

    ngoo/ŋuː/

    snake

  • กา

    gaa/kaː/

    crow, kettle

Browse all Thai vocabulary.