Shangri Lingua

How to say “hole” in Thai

รู

roo

/ruː/

รู means hole.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

This is a good word for practicing a Thai r, which is lightly tapped, though many speakers soften it to an l in casual speech.

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

  • งูอยู่ในรู

    ngoo yòo nai roo/ŋuː jùː naj ruː/

    The snake is in the hole.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ร

    “r” starts the word.

    ro ruea, from เรือ (boat)Low class

    A wavy flag across the top, a drop down the right, and a small loop at the bottom.

  •  ู

    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 ร, which is low 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. 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 รู 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.