Shangri LinguaHow to say “spicy” in Thai
เผ็ด
/pʰèt/
เผ็ด means spicy.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: low
Say this with a puff of air on the p. Without the puff it becomes bpèt, “duck”, in the same low tone.
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
- กินเผ็ดได้ไหม
gin pèt dâi mái?/kin pʰèt dâːj máj/
Can you eat spicy food?
- ไม่เผ็ด
mâi pèt/mâj pʰèt/
Not spicy.
- เผ็ดนิดหน่อย
pèt nít nòi/pʰèt nít nɔ̀ːj/
A little spicy.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of เผ็ด in the order you’d write it.
- เ
The vowel “ay”. Written first, but heard after the consonant.
sara e
One tall stroke with a small loop at the bottom. Compare แ.
- ผ
“p” starts the word.
pho phueng, from ผึ้ง (bee)High class
A loop inside the top of the stem, and a low W. Compare พ, with its loop outside and a tall W.
- ็
Makes เ short: “e” instead of “ay”.
mai taikhu
A small figure, like a tiny 8.
- ด
“t” ends the word.
do dek, from เด็ก (child)Mid class
A rounded top, with the line curling back inside at the top left. Compare ต.
Why the tone is low
- It starts with ผ, which is high class.
- There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
- It ends in “t”, a sound that stops short, so the syllable is dead.
- High class and dead gives a low tone.
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 tastes
- เปรี้ยว
bprîao/prîaw/
- หวาน
wǎan/wǎːn/
- เค็ม
kem/kʰem/
- อร่อย
à-ròi/ʔà.rɔ̀ːj/
Learn these words together in the lesson Have you eaten yet?, or browse all Thai vocabulary.