Food and drink
egg noun
- kài low
- Low: flat and lower than your normal voice, dropping a little at the end.
Aspirated k (with a puff of air), low tone. Without the puff, ไก่gài is chicken.
Taught in Unit 5 · Lesson 1: At the food stall of the free course.
Practise it freeHow to use it
Eggs turn up in almost every Thai meal. A crispy fried egg on top of your rice is ไข่ดาวkài-daao, a "star egg"; a puffy Thai omelette is ไข่เจียวkài-jiaw and a boiled egg ไข่ต้มkài-dtôm. Most stalls will add one to any dish for about 10 baht: just say เพิ่มไข่ดาวpôem kài-daao, "add a fried egg".
Duck eggs are ไข่เป็ดkài bpèt, and the dark, jelly-like century egg is ไข่เยี่ยวม้าkài-yîaw-máa.
Don't mix it up
-
ไก่gài
chicken
No puff of air on the g: chicken.
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:
- khai
More food and drink in Thai
All food and drink- ข้าว kâao Rice
- ข้าวเหนียว kâao-nǐaw Sticky rice
- ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง kâao-nǐaw má-mûang Mango sticky rice
Learn this word in Unit 5, free
Unit 5 · Street food · At the food stall. Short lessons with audio for every word, speaking practice and spaced review. No sign-up needed.
Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones