ฮ

Thai letter ho nok-huk (ฮ)

Low-class consonant 44 of 44. It is written ฮ นกฮูก in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "h" at the start of a syllable.

Class low Initial h Final not used
ฮ ho nok-huk

Remember it

An owl hooting at night - a low-class 'h', only in loanwords.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ฮ นกฮูก ho nok-huk, picture and all. Say the whole thing and the shape comes with it.

What its class does to the tone

Low class is the biggest group. With no mark it gives a mid tone on a live syllable, and a dead syllable splits on vowel length. These three lines cover most of what you will meet, and they hold for ฮ exactly as they do for every other low-class letter.

live syllable, no mark mid tone นา naa Rice field
with mai ek falling tone ค่า khâa Value / fee
with mai tho high tone น้อย nói A little

The examples are whichever low-class word shows the rule most clearly. The full grid for all three classes is here.

Letters that sound the same

2 letters, one sound. Which one a word uses is spelling history rather than pronunciation, so these are learned as part of the word.

Easy to mix up with

Each pair differs by one stroke, and each mistake changes the word.

ฮอ
ฮ and อ o aangอ is the same bowl with no hook, and it is silent.

Words that use it

Every line here is one you will meet again in a lesson. Press play to hear it.

นกฮูกnók hôok
owl
ฮาhaa
to laugh / ha!
แฮกhàek
To hack
เฮ็ดhét
Isaan for 'to do' (standard ทำ)
โฮสเทลhóhs thehn
Hostel
จังฮู้jang hôo
Southern intensifier, really
หมู่เฮาmòo hao
Isaan for us, our lot
แอร์โฮสเตสae hôht dtèet
Flight attendant

Where it turns up in the course

13 course words use ฮ

Learn ฮ early and these are the chapters it pays off in first.

Changdee, a Sabai Thai companion
วันละตัวก็พอ wan la tua ko phoOne letter a day is enough

Drill all 68 characters in the app

Listening and recall drills, with audio on every character.

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