Shangri Lingua

How to say “shrimp” in Thai

กุ้ง

gûng

/kûŋ/

กุ้ง means shrimp.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

Menus usually spell it goong, as in tom yum goong, the famous hot and sour soup.

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

  • ต้มยำกุ้ง

    dtôm yam gûng/tôm jam kûŋ/

    Tom yum goong.

  • ข้าวผัดกุ้ง

    kâao pàt gûng/kʰâːw pʰàt kûŋ/

    Shrimp fried rice.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ก

    “g” starts the word.

    ko kai, from ไก่ (chicken)Mid class

    No loop at all: a beak at the top left and two legs. Compare ภ and ถ, which add a loop.

  •  ุ

    The vowel “short u”. Hangs below the consonant.

    sara u

    A small hook below the line.

  •  ้

    Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant, on top of the vowel already there.

    mai tho

    A small curve, like a tiny 2.

  • ง

    “ng” ends the word.

    ngo ngu, from งู (snake)Low class

    Compact: a loop at the middle left, a line running down to the foot, then straight up the right.

Why the tone is falling

  1. It starts with ก, which is mid class.
  2. It has mai tho. Mid 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 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 meats

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