Animals in Thai

Most Thai animal names are short everyday words: หมาmǎa (dog), แมวmaew (cat), ไก่gài (chicken) and ปลาbplaa (fish). Many have one syllable, so the tone carries the meaning: หมาmǎa with a rising tone is a dog, ม้าmáa with a high tone is a horse.

To count animals, Thais use the classifier ตัวdtua (body): แมวสองตัวmaew sǎwng dtua is two cats. Baby animals get ลูกlûuk (child) in front, so a puppy is ลูกหมาlûuk-mǎa, and สัตว์sàt is the general word for an animal.

Animals are part of everyday Thai talk too. The elephant, ช้างcháang, is the national animal, while calling someone a buffalo, ควายkwaai, means they're stupid. Every word here has audio and natural example sentences.