Thai royal words or เธเธณเธฃเธฒเธเธฒเธจเธฑเธเธเน (raa-chaa sร p) can be difficult even for Thais themselves because it is not used in everyday conversation.
There are 3 cases in which we use royal words:
- We use it when talking about the royal family
- When talking about Jesus as written in the bible or Buddha as written in Tripitaka.
- When sarcastically implying that someone behaves like a royal family (aka. a rich and spoiled person)
I remember that I had to memorize these words when I was in grade 2. After a test, I forgot all of them but thanks to the 8 pm royal news that cuts right in between Thai’s night-time movies, I started remembering the more used words. There are movies that use royal vocabs such as เธเธฃเธฐเธเนเธฃเธจเธงเธฃ (prรก nรก-ray-sลญan) and a few movies on Netflix that can help you learn these words.
I have filtered out the most common words that I hear in the news and that I have read because I believe that the one that I don’t know, you don’t really need to know :P.
Let’s get started!!!
Common Royal Verbs
| เธเธญเธเธเธฃเธฐเนเธเธเธฃ (tรดt prรก nรขyt) | to see |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธฃเธฒเธเธเธฒเธ (prรก rรขt cha taan) | to give |
| เนเธชเธเนเธ (sร -dรจt) | to go |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฑเธ (bprร -tรกp) | to sit |
| เนเธเธฃเธ (bprรฒht) | to like |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธงเธฃ (bprร -chuan) | to be sick |
| เนเธชเธงเธข (sร -wลie) | to eat |
| เธเธฃเธฃเธเธก (ban-tom) | to sleep |
| เธชเธฃเธเธเนเธณ (sลng nรกam) | to take a shower |
| เนเธชเธเนเธเธเธฃเธฐเธเธฒเธช (sร -dรจt bprร -pรขat) | to travel |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธฃเธฒเธเธเธธเธเธเธฒ (prรก rรขat bpรนt-chฤa) | to ask |
| เธเธฃเธเนเธเธฃเธทเนเธญเธ (song krรชuang) | to dress up |
| เธเธฃเธเธเธฃเธฐเธเธฃเธฃเธ เน (song prรก kan) | to be pregnant |
| เธเธฃเธฃเธเธก (ban-tom) | to sleep |
| เธเนเธญเธเธเธฃเธฐเธฃเธฒเธเธเธฃเธฐเธชเธเธเน (dtรดng prรก rรขat-chรก-bprร -sลng) | to want to get |
| เธเธฃเธเธเธฃเธฐเธชเธฃเธงเธฅ (song prรก sลญan) | to laugh |
Royal words for body parts
| เธเธฃเธฐเนเธเธจเธฒ (prรก gay-sฤa) | hair |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธญเธธเธเธฃ (prรก รน-ton) | stomach |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฒเธชเธดเธ (prรก naa-sรฌk) | nose |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธเธเน (prรก ton) | tooth |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฃเธงเธ (prรก suang) | chest |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฃเธฃเธ (prรก gan) | ear |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธดเธงเธซเธฒ (prรก chiw-hฤa) | tongue |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฒเธ (prรก-bร at) | foot |
| เธเธฃเธฐเนเธญเธฉเธเน (prรก รฒht) | mouth |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฑเธเธเธฃเน (prรก pรกk) | face |
| เธเธฃเธฐเนเธเธเธฃ (prรก nรขyt) | eye |
Nouns
The are many royal words that are nouns. Here I will only give you the few that are important. The full list is too big and useless. Even for Thais, it’s totally acceptable to use the normal word instead of the royal word if you don’t know.
| เธเธฅเธญเธเธเธฃเธฐเธเธฒเธ (chร -lลng prรก-bร at) | shoe |
| เธเธฅเธญเธเธเธฃเธฐเธญเธเธเน (chร -lลng prรก ong) | tops |
| เธเธฃเธฐเธเธฃเธฐเธขเธฒเธซเธฒเธฃ (prรก grร -yaa-hฤan) | rice |
| เธเธฃเธฐเนเธเนเธเธเธฃเธฃเธเธก (prรก tรขen ban-tom) | bed |
As long as kings and royalties continue to exist in Thailand, the Thai language will continue to have these royal vocabularies as an important part of the Thai language.
I encourage you to learn them to recognize them so that when you hear someone say these honorifics or vocabs you will understand. And if you hear them, don’t be shy to ask people around you for the meaning.
