ข

Thai letter kho khai (ข)

High-class consonant 2 of 44. It is written ข ไข่ in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "kh" at the start of a syllable.

Class high Initial kh Final k
ข kho khai

Remember it

Like ก with an extra leg kicked out - an egg rolling away.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ข ไข่ kho khai, picture and all. Say the whole thing and the shape comes with it.

What its class does to the tone

High class cannot take mai tri or mai chattawa, and an unmarked live syllable comes out rising rather than mid. These three lines cover most of what you will meet, and they hold for ข exactly as they do for every other high-class letter.

live syllable, no mark rising tone ขา khǎa Leg
with mai ek low tone ไข่ khài Egg
with mai tho falling tone ข้าว khâo Rice

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

Letters that sound the same

5 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.

ขฉ
ข and ฉ cho chingฉ adds a spur on the right shoulder.

Words that use it

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

ไข่khài
egg
ขาkhǎa
leg
ขอkhǒr
May I have / please
ขมkhǒm
Bitter
ขาวkhǎo
White
ขวาkhwǎa
Right
เขาkhǎo
He / she / they
ขายkhǎi
To sell
ขวดkhùat
Bottle

Where it turns up in the course

460 course words use ข

Learn ข 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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