ฆ

Thai letter kho rakhang (ฆ)

Low-class consonant 6 of 44. It is written ฆ ระฆัง in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "kh" at the start of a syllable.

Class low Initial kh Final k
ฆ kho rakhang

Remember it

A bell with a long hanging clapper.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ฆ ระฆัง kho rakhang, 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 ฆ 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

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

Words that use it

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

ระฆังrá khang
bell
ควายkhwai
buffalo
พระสงฆ์phrá sǒng
The monkhood
ระฆังวัดrá khang wát
Temple bell
ทำสังฆทานtham sǎng khá thaan
To offer a monk-supplies set
วันนี้ผมมาทำสังฆทานwan née phǒm maa tham sǎng khá thaan
I have come to make an offering today
Changdee, a Sabai Thai companion
วันละตัวก็พอ wan la tua ko phoOne letter a day is enough

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