Thai consonant 34 of 44
ย – Yo Yak (yaw yák): the Thai letter Y
- Class
- Low class
- Start sound
- y
- End sound
- y
- Keyword
- giant
ย ยอ ยักษ์ yaw yák
In short
ย (ยอ ยักษ์yaw yák) is the 34th letter of the Thai alphabet and a low-class consonant. At the start of a syllable it sounds like y, and at the end of a syllable like y. Its name means "ย as in ยักษ์, giant".
How to say ย
y as in 'yes'
The keyword ยักษ์yák means giant. Say the letter as ยอ ยักษ์yaw yák.
Same "y" sound, different letter: ญ Yo Ying. The class is what tells them apart.
Thai words with ย
Tap the speaker to hear each word. Can you spot ย in each one?
- ยินดีต้อนรับ yin-dii dtâwn-ráp
welcome
- ยี่สิบ yîi-sìp
twenty
- ยังไง yang-ngai
how
- ยิม yim
gym
- ยุ่ง yûng
busy
- ยาก yâak
difficult, hard
- ยัง yang
still; (not) yet
- ยา yaa
medicine, drug
- ยาว yaao
long
- ยาย yaai
grandmother (your mother's mother); granny
Don't mix it up with
Letters that look similar. Compare the loops, tails and notches.
- ยอ ยักษ์ yaw yák
Tones with low-class letters
ย is one of the 24 low-class consonants. With no tone mark:
- Live syllableMid tone
- Dead syllableHigh (short vowel) or falling (long vowel) tone
Two tone marks: ◌่ falling, ◌้ high.
The full tone rules chart