Shangri Lingua

How to say “medicine” in Thai

ยา

yaa

/jaː/

ยา means medicine.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

In Thai you “eat” medicine: กินยา (gin yaa). A pharmacy is ร้านขายยา (ráan kǎai yaa), “shop selling medicine”.

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

  • กินยาหลังอาหาร

    gin yaa lǎng aa-hǎan/kin jaː lǎŋ ʔaː.hǎːn/

    Take the medicine after meals.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ย

    “y” starts the word.

    yo yak, from ยักษ์ (giant)Low class

    A loop at the top, an S-curve down the left, and a flat base.

  • า

    The vowel “long a”. Written after the consonant.

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ย, 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 ยา 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 places and things

Browse all Thai vocabulary.