Shangri Lingua

How to say “woman” in Thai

หญิง

yǐng

/jǐŋ/

หญิง means woman, female.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: rising

On its own this mostly appears in compounds and on signs. In conversation, “a woman” is ผู้หญิง (pôo-yǐng), and “a man” is ผู้ชาย (pôo-chaai).

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

  • ผู้หญิงคนนั้นเป็นครู

    pôo-yǐng kon nán bpen kroo/pʰûː.jǐŋ kʰon nán pen kʰruː/

    That woman is a teacher.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ห

    Silent, and written only to change the tone: it makes the next letter follow high class rules.

    ho hip, from หีบ (chest)High class

    Like ท, with a small extra loop at the top of the right leg. Also silently raises the letter after it.

  • ญ

    “y” is the sound that starts the word.

    yo ying, from หญิง (woman)Low class

    Wide, like ฌ, ending in a curved line underneath. Rare.

  •  ิ

    The vowel “short i”. Sits on top of the consonant.

    sara i

    A low dome, closed along the bottom.

  • 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 rising

  1. The silent ห in front gives ญ high class rules.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “ng”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. High class and live gives a rising tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches หญิง 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.