How to say North, South, East, West in Thai 🧭

by | Oct 24, 2020 | Thai

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In this article, I will explain how to talk about north, south, east, west in Thai language.

How to say North, South, East, West in Thai 🧭 1

Cardinal Directions

If you are talking about the cardinal / compass directions like in a map then you would say the following:

  • North: āļ—āļīāļĻāđ€āļŦāļ™āļ·āļ­ tít nĕua (literally: direction north)

  • South: āļ—āļīāļĻāđƒāļ•āđ‰ tít dtÃĒi (literally: direction south)

  • East: āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ­āļ­āļ tít dtà-wan Ãēk (literally: direction sun exits)

  • West: āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ•āļ tít dtà-wan dtÃēk (literally: direction sun falls)

In the above directions, the first word āļ—āļīāļĻ tít means direction and the word that follows is the direction. To make it short, you can just remove āļ—āļīāļĻ tít.

āļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™ (dtà-wan) in the words for east and west means sun. āļ­āļ­āļ (Ãēk means to exit and āļ•āļ (dtÃēk) means to fall. So east (āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ­āļ­āļ tít dtà-wan Ãēk) is literally “direction the sun exits”. West is literally (āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ•āļ tít dtà-wan dtÃēk) the “direction the sun falls” (sunset).

Another way to say the cardinal directions in Thai language is the following. Keep in mind, the below way is not really used.

  • North: āļ­āļļāļ”āļĢ Ãđ-don

  • South: āļ—āļąāļāļĐāļīāļ“ tÃĄk-sÄ­n

  • East: āļšāļđāļĢāļžāļē boo-rÃĄ-paa

  • West: āļ›āļĢāļ°āļˆāļīāļĄ bprà-jim

Intercardinal / Ordinal Directions

  • Northeast āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ­āļ­āļāđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡āđ€āļŦāļ™āļ·āļ­ tít dtà-wan Ãēk chÄ­ang nĕua
    or āļ­āļĩāļŠāļēāļ™ ee-săan

  • Northwest āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ•āļāđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡āđ€āļŦāļ™āļ·āļ­ tít dtà-wan dtÃēk chÄ­ang nĕua
    or āļžāļēāļĒāļąāļž paa-yÃĄp

  • Southeast āļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ­āļ­āļāđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡āđƒāļ•āđ‰ dtà-wan Ãēk chÄ­ang dtÃĒi
    or āļ­āļēāļ„āđ€āļ™āļĒāđŒ aa-kÃĄ-nay

  • Southwest āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ•āļāđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡āđƒāļ•āđ‰ tít dtà-wan dtÃēk chÄ­ang dtÃĒi
    or āļŦāļĢāļ”āļĩ hŏr-rÃĄ-dee

Notice how in Thai, it’s like saying “Eastnorth”, “Eastsouth”, “Westnorth”, “Westeast”. āđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡ chÄ­ang means to be askew/slanted.

So as an example, Northeast (āļ—āļīāļĻāļ•āļ°āļ§āļąāļ™āļ­āļ­āļāđ€āļ‰āļĩāļĒāļ‡āđ€āļŦāļ™āļ·āļ­ tít dtà-wan Ãēk chÄ­ang nĕua) in Thai language is literally like saying “direction east slanted north”.

Regions in Thailand

An important thing to note is that (although it can be done scientifically), Thais don’t split Thailand into North, South, East, West sections. Instead, they divide Thailand into the Northern region, Northeast Region, Central Region, and Southern Region.

  • Northern Region: āļ āļēāļ„āđ€āļŦāļ™āļ·āļ­ pÃĒak nĕua (literally: region north)

  • Northeast Region: āļ āļēāļ„āļ­āļĩāļŠāļēāļ™ pÃĒak ee-săan (literally: region Isan)

  • Central Region: āļ āļēāļ„āļāļĨāļēāļ‡ pÃĒak glaang (literally: region center)

  • Southern Region: āļ āļēāļ„āđƒāļ•āđ‰ pÃĒak dtÃĒi (literally: region south)
Regions in Thai

The word āļ āļēāļ„ (pÃĒak) in all these words means region/part.

āļ­āļĩāļŠāļēāļ™ (ee-săan) is just the way Thai people call the north-eastern region of Thailand.

āļāļĨāļēāļ‡ (glaang) by itself means central/middle.


I hope you now know how to talk about north, south, east, west in Thai and also learned how to say the different regions in Thailand.

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