Food and drinkmortar noun
- krók high
- High: start high and go a little higher, a bit tense; don’t let it fall.
Classifier: ใบbai · counting word for hats, bags, cards and leaves
How to use it
The mortar, ครกkrók, and its pestle, สากsàak, are the heart of a Thai kitchen: they pound curry pastes, chilli dips and papaya salad, whose name ส้มตำsôm-dtam means "pounded sour". A tall clay mortar with a wooden pestle is for som tam, a heavy stone one for pastes, and the steady pok-pok of pounding is the sound of a som tam stall.
Coconut pancakes cooked in a pan of little round hollows are ขนมครกkà-nǒm-krók, "mortar sweets".
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:
- khrok
- grok
- krog
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
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Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones