Thai Alphabet Note: 44 letters in main alphabet,
plus 16 vowels = 60 letters in the alphabet - plus 7 unique symbols
it helps if your browser supports Thai alphabet fonts - otherwise, you'll see some odd shapes

	Thai letter or symbol	Thai name	Thai meaning	English alphabet equivalent	Comments
1	ก	ko gai	chicken	G
2	ข	ko kai	egg	K
3	ฃ	kaw kuat	bottle	K	archaic, no longer used
4	ค	kaw kwai	water buffalo	K
5	ฅ	kaw kon	people	K	archaic, no longer used
6	ฆ	kaw rakan	bell	K
7	ง	ngo ngu	snake	NG
8	จ	jo jan	plate	J	turns to T sound when placed at end of word
9	ฉ	chaw ching	high tone cymbals	CH	never occurs at end of a word
10	ช	chaw chang	elephant	CH	at end of a word, it sounds like T
11	ซ	saw so	chain	S	does not occur at end of a word
12	ฌ	chaw gacheu	type of tree	CH	does not occur at end of a word
13	ญ	yaw puying	female	Y	becomes an 'n' sound at end of word
14	ฎ	daw chada	dancers crown	D	when ending word, sounds like T
15	ฏ	taw patak	small spike weapon	D
16	ฐ	taw tan	statue pedestal	T
17	ฑ	taw monto	mythical giant's wife	T or D
18	ฒ	taw putaow	old person	sounds like a soft T
19	ณ	naw nayn	novice monk	N
20	ด	do dek	child	D
21	ต	taw tao	turtle	T
22	ถ	taw toong	bag or sack	T
23	ท	taw tahan	soldier	T
24	ธ	taw tung	flag	T
25	น	no noo	mouse	N
26	บ	baw bai mai	tree leaf	B	changes to P sound when found at end of a word
27	ป	paw pla	fish	P	sounds same, whether at beginning or end of word
28	ผ	paw peung	bee	P	never occurs at the end of a word
29	ฝ	faw fa	lid	F	never occurs at the end of a word
30	พ	paw pan	trophy pedestal	P
31	ฟ	faw fan	tooth	F
32	ภ	po sumpao	chinese junk	P
33	ม	maw ma	horse	M
34	ย	yo yak	giant gremlin	Y
35	ร	ro rua	boat	R	sophisticated Thais roll their r's
36	ล	lo ling	monkey	L
37	ว	wo waen	jewelry ring	W
38	ศ	saw sala	gazebo	S	turns to T sound when placed at end of word
39	ษ	saw reusee	hermit	S	becomes T sound when placed at end of word
40	ส	saw seua	tiger	S	turns to a T sound when placed at end of word
41	ฬ	raw jula	kite	L
42	ห	haw heep	box	H	often silent when used before another consonant
43	อ	aw ang	water basin	O	used in conjunction with vowels
44	ฮ	haw hoo	owl	H
	Sara Vowels	THAI NAME			EXAMPLES of SOUND
S1	ะ	sara ah			'a' like mocca
S2	-า	sara aah			'a' like blah
S3	เ-	sara aye			long a, like 'pray'
S4	แ-	sara aey		regular length	like the 'a' in mask
S5	-ัวะ	sara ua			brief like the 'ua' in 'kalua'
S6	-ัว	sara uwa		also like kalua	...but regular length
S7	โ-ะ	sara o		very brief	like the 'o' in 'hope'
S8	โ-	sara oh		regular length	like the 'o' in 'home'
S9	เ-ะ	sara aye		very brief	long a, like 'bake'
S10	แ-ะ	sara ae		very brief	like the 'a' in 'basket'
	vowels	placed	above	letters
S11	-ึ	sara eu	placed above letter		very brief eu sound
S12	-ื	sara eu	placed above letter		regular eu sound
S13	-ิ	sara e	placed above letter		very brief e
S14	-ี	sara ee	placed above letter		regular e
S15	-ั	sara ai	placed above letter		short 'I' like 'bike'
S16	็	aw sound	placed above letter		called 'maitoy koo', it's very rarely used
	more	vowels
S17	เ-าะ	aw			short like 'flop'
S18	เ-อะ	awe			long, as in flaw
S19	- ุ	sara u	placed under letter		very short, as in boo
S20	- ู	sara oo	placed under letter	long ' u' sound	like the 'oo' in typhoon
S21	เ-ียะ	sara eea			very brief sound of the 'ia' in Maria
S22	เ-ีย	sara eeah			regular length version of the sound above.
S23	เ-ือะ	sara eua		short sound. No equivalent in English.	Try the eu in chauffeur - with a brief 'a' tag.
S24	เ-ือ	sara eu-a			regular length of sound above
S25	เ-อะ	sara eu			short 'u' in burp
S26	เ-อ	seal euh			regular length, similar to the 'u' in fur
S27	-วย	sara ooway			long, like, 'ooh, way' ...out, man
S28	-อย	sara oy			medium-short, like 'boy'
S30	-าย	sara aiy			long 'i' sound, like 'bye'
S31	เ-า	sara aow			like the 'ayo' in Mayo Clinic
S32	าว	sara ow			sow
S33	เ-อืย	sara eu-ay			rarely used
S34	ไ-ย	sara aiy			long, like in 'bye'
S35	เ-ียว	sara ee-o			long, as in oreo cookie
S36	ำ	sara aam			like samba
S37	เ-า	sara aow			like cow
S38	ใ	sara ai			long vowel, like 'y' in cry
S39	ไ	sara ai			same as above
S40	ฤ or ฤๅ	ro ru	R		rarely used combination consonant and vowel
S41	ฦ or ฦๅ	lo leu	L		rarely used combination consonant and vowel
	symbols
K1	ๆ	repeat symbol		common	see 'couplets' chapter
k2	ฯ	abbreviation symbol			rarely used
k3	์	garan, silent symbol		commonly used	...placed over letter that's silent
	tone	indicators			Thai name:
k4	'	denotes low tone	placed above letter in word			mai aek
k5	้	denotes medium tone	placed above letter in word			mai toh
k6	๊	denotes high tone	placed above letter in word				maitree
k7	+	denotes rising tone	placed above letter in word				mai jatawa

Thai Alphabet Note: 44 letters in main alphabet, plus 16 vowels = 60 letters in the alphabet - plus 7 unique symbols it helps if your browser supports Thai alphabet fonts - otherwise, you'll see some odd shapes

Thai Alphabet Note: 44 letters in main alphabet,
plus 16 vowels = 60 letters in the alphabet - plus 7 unique symbols
it helps if your browser supports Thai alphabet fonts - otherwise, you'll see some odd shapes