THAI-ENGLISH
STUDENT'S DICTIONARY
Compiled by
MARY R. f--IAAS
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STAN FORD, CALIFORNIA
The principal aim of this dictionary is to provide a convenient reference work for the
English-speaking student of Thai. Existing Thai-English dictionaries--at least those prepared
within the last two decades--are invariably geared to meet the needs of the Thai-speaking stu-dent of English, since that is the market they are intended to reach. But such dictionaries fail
in certain crucial respects to satisfy the legitimate needs of the American student. In particu-lar it has been noticed that: (1} They fail to provide a scientifically accurate and up-to-date
guide to the pronunciation of Thai words. (2) They neglect to distinguish important levels of
usage, e.g., vulgar, common, elegant, colloquial, literary, etc., which are well known to Thai
speakers but are impossible for the culturally-unoriented American student to figure out.
(3) They lack many important idioms, compounds, and other specialized combinations of words.
(4) Examples, when given, are more likely to be chosen to clarify the peculiarities of English
than those of Thai.
The present dictionary contains the following types of information with each of its en-tries: ( 1) The traditional Thai spelling as shown in the official Thai monolingual dictionary
(the Thai :Ministry of Education, Bangkok, 1950). (2) A carefully worked out phonemic trans-cription using Roman letters. (3) An abbreviation designating the word class, where pertinent.
(4) The level of usage, both social and technical, where pertinent. (5) The English definition
or equivalent. (6) Many synonyms and antonyms. (7) Examples showing a variety of uses,
when the definition alone is insufficient. The dictionary also contains some special kinds of
entries which are missing from many dictionaries. Among these are: (1) Most of the common
place names of Thailand, including abbreviated and colloquial (but not dialectal} place names
and also most of the common foreign place names likely to be found in newspapers. (2) Com-mon abbreviations of titles, organizations, dates, and the like that are frequently encountered
in newspapers.
Although this dictionary has been prepared especially to meet the needs of the Ameri-can student who wishes to read Thai newspapers and other Thai source materials, the Thai stu-dent of English will also find much useful information in this dictionary. The reason for this
is that we have tried very hard to find the best and most natural English translation for as many
words as possible. The numerou·s subentries and examples will also often be of interest to the
Thai student as well as the American student.
THAI-ENGLISH
Compiled by
MARY R. f--IAAS
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STAN FORD, CALIFORNIA
STAN FORD, CALIFORNIA
The principal aim of this dictionary is to provide a convenient reference work for the
English-speaking student of Thai. Existing Thai-English dictionaries--at least those prepared
within the last two decades--are invariably geared to meet the needs of the Thai-speaking stu-dent of English, since that is the market they are intended to reach. But such dictionaries fail
in certain crucial respects to satisfy the legitimate needs of the American student. In particu-lar it has been noticed that: (1} They fail to provide a scientifically accurate and up-to-date
guide to the pronunciation of Thai words. (2) They neglect to distinguish important levels of
usage, e.g., vulgar, common, elegant, colloquial, literary, etc., which are well known to Thai
speakers but are impossible for the culturally-unoriented American student to figure out.
(3) They lack many important idioms, compounds, and other specialized combinations of words.
(4) Examples, when given, are more likely to be chosen to clarify the peculiarities of English
than those of Thai.
The present dictionary contains the following types of information with each of its en-tries: ( 1) The traditional Thai spelling as shown in the official Thai monolingual dictionary
(the Thai :Ministry of Education, Bangkok, 1950). (2) A carefully worked out phonemic trans-cription using Roman letters. (3) An abbreviation designating the word class, where pertinent.
(4) The level of usage, both social and technical, where pertinent. (5) The English definition
or equivalent. (6) Many synonyms and antonyms. (7) Examples showing a variety of uses,
when the definition alone is insufficient. The dictionary also contains some special kinds of
entries which are missing from many dictionaries. Among these are: (1) Most of the common
place names of Thailand, including abbreviated and colloquial (but not dialectal} place names
and also most of the common foreign place names likely to be found in newspapers. (2) Com-mon abbreviations of titles, organizations, dates, and the like that are frequently encountered
in newspapers.
Although this dictionary has been prepared especially to meet the needs of the Ameri-can student who wishes to read Thai newspapers and other Thai source materials, the Thai stu-dent of English will also find much useful information in this dictionary. The reason for this
is that we have tried very hard to find the best and most natural English translation for as many
words as possible. The numerou·s subentries and examples will also often be of interest to the
Thai student as well as the American student.
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