Shangri Lingua

How to say “person” in Thai

คน

kon

/kʰon/

คน means person.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

It’s also the word for counting people, so “two people” is สองคน (sǒng kon), and it goes in front of a nationality: คนไทย (kon tai) is a Thai person.

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

  • ที่ร้านมีคนเยอะ

    têe ráan mee kon yóe/tʰîː ráːn miː kʰon jɤ́ʔ/

    There are a lot of people at the shop.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ค

    “k” starts the word.

    kho khwai, from ควาย (buffalo)Low class

    A rounded top, with the head curling inside at the top left, and two legs.

  • น

    “n” ends the word.

    no nu, from หนู (mouse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, ending in a small loop at the bottom right. Compare ม.

No vowel is written here: two consonants with nothing between them get a short “o”.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ค, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “n”, 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 คน 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 people and family

Browse all Thai vocabulary.