Ri Ri Khao San (รีรีข้าวสาร): meaning and key lines
Traditional, author unknown
What the song is about
รีรีข้าวสารrii-rii kâao-sǎan, “Ri Ri Khao San (a Thai Children's Game)”, is a Thai children's song by an unknown author. The rhyme of a game Thai children have played for generations, a lot like London Bridge: two children make an arch with their arms, the others file under it in a line, and when the rhyme ends the arch drops and catches someone. It is in the public domain, and its six short phrases are pictures of old village life: rice in the husk and out of it, an old rice measure, cowrie-shell money and the space under a house on stilts.
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Song facts
- Words
- Traditional, author unknown (sung here by KidsMeSong)
- Style
- Children's song
- Level
- A2 (elementary)
- Mood
- playful, sing-along, game
- Views
- about 381K (Oct 2026)
- Video
- KidsMeSong (verified kids' channel)
- Lyrics
- Public domain
Key lines, explained
Tap a line to hear it. Once the video is playing, lines jump to their moment in the song.
- รีรี rii-riiข้าวสาร kâao-sǎanสอง sǎwngทะนาน tá-naanข้าวเปลือก kâao-bplùeak
Ri ri, milled rice, two measures of rice in the husk,
รีรีrii-rii has no clear meaning in the rhyme; on its own, รีrii describes a long oval, like a grain of milled rice (Royal Institute Dictionary). ข้าวสารkâao-sǎan = milled rice, the white grains you buy and cook, and ข้าวเปลือกkâao-bplùeak = rice still in its husk (เปลือกbplùeak = husk, peel, shell). A ทะนานtá-naan is an old measure for rice and grain, a cup made from a coconut shell: สองทะนานsǎwng tá-naan = two measures. In everyday Thai the thing comes first, ข้าวสองจานkâao sǎwng jaan (two plates of rice); the rhyme turns it round. - เลือก lûeakท้อง táwngใบลาน bai-laanเก็บ gèpเบี้ย bîaใต้ถุน dtâi-tǔnร้าน ráan
pick out the belly of a palm leaf, gather cowries under the stall,
เลือกlûeak = to choose, to pick out. ท้องtáwng is a belly, and also the open middle of things: ท้องฟ้าtáwng fáa (the sky), ท้องนาtáwng naa (the rice fields). ใบลานbai-laan = a leaf of the lan palm, on which old Thai books were written. เก็บgèp = to gather, to pick up; เบี้ยbîa = cowrie shells, small change in old Siam, a hundred to one อัฐàt. The word lives on for money: เบี้ยประกันbîa bprà-gan is an insurance premium. ใต้ถุนdtâi-tǔn = the open space under a house on stilts, and ร้านráan, today a shop, is first of all a raised platform for sitting or selling things (all Royal Institute Dictionary). - คด kótข้าว kâaoใส่ sàiจาน jaanพาน paanเอา aoคน konข้างหลัง kâang-lǎngไว้ wái
scoop the rice onto a plate, and catch the one at the back!
คดkót = to scoop cooked rice out of the pot, a verb for rice alone; ใส่จานsài jaan = onto a plate. Then the catch: พานpaan here is a verb you rarely hear today, to bar the way, and the Royal Institute Dictionary's example for it is the rhyme's own พานคนข้างหลังไว้paan kon kâang-lǎng wái. เอา…ไว้ao … wái = to take and keep: เอาคนข้างหลังไว้ao kon kâang-lǎng wái = hold back the one at the back (ข้างหลังkâang-lǎng = behind). On the last word the arch drops, and whoever is under it is caught.
Words you'll learn
- ข้าวเปลือก kâao-bplùeak
unhusked rice, rice in the husk
- ใต้ถุน dtâi-tǔn
the space under a house on stilts
- จาน jaan
plate; a plate of (food)
After a dish and a number, จานjaan counts plates: ข้าวมันไก่สองจานkâao-man-gài sǎwng jaan is two plates of chicken rice.
- ข้าวสาร kâao-sǎan
milled rice, uncooked rice
Cooked rice is ข้าวสวยkâao sǔay or just ข้าวkâao.
- ทะนาน tá-naan
an old rice measure (a coconut-shell cup)
- ใบลาน bai-laan
palm leaf (for old manuscripts)
- เบี้ย bîa
cowrie shells (old small change)
- คด kót
to scoop (cooked rice) from the pot
- พาน paan
to bar the way, to block (old)
Grammar in this song
Thing, number, counting word. In everyday Thai you name the thing, then the number, then a counting word or a measure: ข้าวสองจานkâao sǎwng jaan (two plates of rice), น้ำสามขวดnáam sǎam kùat (three bottles of water). Rhymes and old sayings may put the number first, สองทะนานข้าวเปลือกsǎwng tá-naan kâao-bplùeak, to fit the beat.
Verb + ไว้wái: and keep it that way. ไว้wái after a verb says the result stays: เอาคนข้างหลังไว้ao kon kâang-lǎng wái (hold back the one behind), เก็บไว้gèp wái (keep it, put it away), จำไว้jam wái (remember this).
The culture behind it
How to play. Two children face each other and join hands above their heads to make an arch. Everyone else lines up, holding the waist or the shoulders of the one in front, and files under the arch and round again while all sing; on the last words the arch drops, and whoever it catches is out (DLTV's Grade 1 Thai lesson, which teaches the rhyme). In the Central provinces, says the Thai Junior Encyclopedia, it is one of the two games you see children and young people playing most at Songkran, with the snake game งูกินหางnguu gin hǎang.
The words are a little old-fashioned: rice in the husk and out of it, a coconut-shell measure, cowrie money, a house on stilts. Rhymes chain the phrases together, as in much Thai verse: ทะนานtá-naan with ข้าวสารkâao-sǎan, ข้าวเปลือกkâao-bplùeak with เลือกlûeak, ใบลานbai-laan with ร้านráan, and จานjaan with พานpaan. Families sing small variations, so you may hear other words on a school field. KidsMeSong, one of Thailand's biggest children's channels, made this animated version in December 2025: each round opens with a verse of the channel's own about lining up for the game, then sings the traditional rhyme twice.
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