Rare letters and Thai digits

You now know every common letter. The rest are rare: they appear in formal words from Pali and Sanskrit, in names, and in the alphabet itself. Learn to recognise them; there's no need to drill them.

The rare letters

• ฆkaw low class, k: ฆ่าkâa (kill), ระฆังrá-kang (temple bell), เมฆmêek (cloud)
• ฌchaw low class, ch: almost only in the alphabet (ฌ เฌอchaw choe, tree)
• ฎdaw mid class, d: กฎgòt (rule)
• ฏdtaw mid class, dt: ปฏิทินbpà-dtì-tin (calendar)
• ฐtǎw high class, t: รัฐบาลrát-tà-baan (government)
• ฑtaw low class, t, sometimes d: ครุฑkrút (the Garuda emblem), บัณฑิตban-dìt (graduate)
• ฒtaw low class, t: ผู้เฒ่าpûu-tâo (old man), วัฒนธรรมwát-tá-ná-tam (culture)
• ฬlaw low class, l: นาฬิกาnaa-lí-gaa (clock), กีฬาgii-laa (sport)

Two letters are obsolete and survive only in the alphabet: ฃkǎw and ฅkaw.

Alphabet order

Dictionaries follow the traditional order, so it's worth knowing: ก ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ ง จ ฉ ช ซ ฌ ญ ฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ ด ต ถ ท ธ น บ ป ผ ฝ พ ฟ ภ ม ย ร ล ว ศ ษ ส ห ฬ อ ฮgaw kǎw kǎw kaw kaw kaw ngaw jaw chǎw chaw saw chaw yaw daw dtaw tǎw taw taw naw daw dtaw tǎw taw taw naw baw bpaw pǎw fǎw paw faw paw maw yaw raw law waw sǎw sǎw sǎw hǎw law aw haw.

Thai digits

Thai has its own digits, used on temple and government signs, banknotes, official dates and some menus:

• ๐sǔun 0 · ๑nùeng 1 · ๒sǎwng 2 · ๓sǎam 3 · ๔sìi 4
• ๕hâa 5 · ๖hòk 6 · ๗jèt 7 · ๘bpàet 8 · ๙gâao 9

They work exactly like ours: ๒๐yîi-sìp is 20, and ๒๕๖๙sǎwng-pan-hâa-ráwy-hòk-sìp-gâao is 2569, the Buddhist year for 2026. Watch ๔sìi and ๕hâa: they differ only by a small extra curl.

Rare short vowels

เ◌ียะia appears in เกี๊ยะgía (wooden clogs) and ◌ัวะua in a few sound words, such as ผัวะpùa, the sound of a slap.

Typical mistake: reading ฑtaw in a word you've never seen as d. It's usually t; the d words are few, so learn them as you meet them.