Shangri Lingua

How to say “hungry” in Thai

หิว

hǐu

/hǐw/

หิว means hungry.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: rising

No word for “am” is needed: hǐu alone can mean “I’m hungry”. Add náam, the word for water, and you get hǐu náam, “thirsty”.

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

  • หิวไหม

    hǐu mái?/hǐw máj/

    Are you hungry?

  • หิวแล้ว

    hǐu láew/hǐw lɛ́ːw/

    I’m hungry now.

  • หิวน้ำ

    hǐu náam/hǐw náːm/

    I’m thirsty.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ห

    “h” starts the word.

    ho hip, from หีบ (chest)High class

    Like ท, with a small extra loop at the top of the right leg. Also silently raises the letter after it.

  •  ิ

    The vowel “short i”. Sits on top of the consonant.

    sara i

    A low dome, closed along the bottom.

  • ว

    “w” ends the word.

    wo waen, from แหวน (ring)Low class

    A small arch curling over to the right, with a loop at the lower left.

Why the tone is rising

  1. It starts with ห, which is high class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “w”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. High class and live gives a rising tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app has a Thai writing course that teaches every letter in this word. You write 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 food and drink

Learn these words together in the lesson Have you eaten yet?, or browse all Thai vocabulary.