Shangri Lingua

How to say “snake” in Thai

งู

ngoo

/ŋuː/

งู means snake.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

This is good practice for starting a word with “ng”, the sound at the end of “sing”. It’s also how children learn the letter ง.

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

  • งูตัวนี้ยาวมาก

    ngoo dtua née yaao mâak/ŋuː tua níː jaːw mâːk/

    This snake is very long.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ง

    “ng” starts 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.

  •  ู

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

    sara uu

    Like sara u, with a loop added.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ง, 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 งู 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 animals

  • แมว

    maew/mɛːw/

    cat

  • หมา

    mǎa/mǎː/

    dog

  • ช้าง

    cháang/t͡ɕʰáːŋ/

    elephant

  • ม้า

    máa/máː/

    horse

  • ปู

    bpoo/puː/

    crab

  • กา

    gaa/kaː/

    crow, kettle

Browse all Thai vocabulary.