Shangri Lingua

How to say “rice” in Thai

ข้าว

kâao

/kʰâːw/

ข้าว means rice, and by extension a meal.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

Rice is so central to Thai food that this word also means a meal: gin kâao, “eat rice”, just means to eat. It also begins the names of many dishes.

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

  • กินข้าวหรือยัง

    gin kâao rǔe yang?/kin kʰâːw rɯ̌ː jaŋ/

    Have you eaten yet?

  • ข้าวผัด

    kâao pàt/kʰâːw pʰàt/

    Fried rice

  • ข้าวเหนียว

    kâao nǐao/kʰâːw nǐaw/

    Sticky rice

  • คุณกินข้าวหรือยัง

    kun gin kâao rǔe yang?/kʰun kin kʰâːw rɯ̌ː jaŋ/

    Have you eaten yet? (with “you” spelled out)

How it’s spelled

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

  • ข

    “k” starts the word.

    kho khai, from ไข่ (egg)High class

    A loop at the top left, a rounded base, and open at the top right.

  •  ้

    Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant.

    mai tho

    A small curve, like a tiny 2.

  • า

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

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

  • 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 falling

  1. It starts with ข, which is high class.
  2. It has mai tho. High class with mai tho gives a falling tone.

Mai tho doesn’t always mean one tone: it gives a falling tone on mid and high class letters, and a high tone on low class.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches ข้าว 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 food and drink

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