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Culture and festivals

Cymbals in Thai

“Cymbals” in Thai is ฉิ่งchìng.

ฉิ่ง chìng

small Thai cymbals noun

chìng low

Low: flat and lower than your normal voice, dropping a little at the end.

You'll hear it in Thai Alphabet Song (ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่).

How to use it

ฉิ่งchìng is a pair of small, cup-shaped cymbals tied together with a cord, and they keep the beat in Thai classical music: an open, ringing stroke and a short, damped one, ฉับchàp. The name is the sound. You ตีdtii, strike, them, and the alphabet names its letter ฉchǎw after them: ฉฉิ่งchǎw chìng.

Other spellings you'll see

There's no single official way to write Thai in English letters. We mark the tone of every syllable; online you'll also find:

chhing
ching chap

Read more

Song Thai Alphabet Song (ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่) The rhyme every Thai child chants to learn the 44 consonants, each named after a picture word: chicken, egg, buffalo, snake, elephant, owl. It is the classic first step into reading Thai, and almost every adult in Thailand can still sing it. The words are old and in the public domain.

More culture and festivals in Thai

All culture and festivals

สงกรานต์ sǒng-graan Songkran
Songkran, the Thai New Year (13-15 April)
ลอยกระทง lawy grà-tong Loy Krathong
to float a krathong
ฮ่าๆ hâa-hâa 555
haha (typed 555 in chats: five is hâa)
ไหว้ wâai Wai
to wai (greet with palms together)
เพลงชาติ pleeng-châat National anthem
สำนวน sǎm-nuan Proverb
idiom, saying

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Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones