บ — bo baimai (leaf)
«bo baimai (leaf)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “b (final p)”. Middle class. A plain b at the start of a word; at the end it closes as an unreleased p. For example, in the word “บ้าน” — house. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. It appears, for example, in the word “สวัสดี ตอน บ่าย” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | บ |
| Name | bo baimai (leaf) |
| Sound | b (final p) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 7th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ต and ป, appears in 556 words of this site.
How to type บ
- On a phone: add the Thai keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0E1A and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0E1A.
- Unicode code point: U+0E1A. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Middle class. A plain b at the start of a word; at the end it closes as an unreleased p
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- บ้านбанhouse
The character in the “middle class — nine consonants” group
อักษรกลาง. Reading starts from these nine. A live syllable with no tone mark takes the even mid tone; a dead one takes the low tone. They are also the only class that regularly takes the three-stroke mark ๊ and the rising hook ๋.
Words with this character
- สวัสดี ตอน บ่ายсаватди тон байgood afternoon
- ขอบคุณкхопкхунthank you
- สบายดี ไหม?сабайди май?how are you?
- สบายดีсабайдиfine
- ไม่ค่อย สบายмайкхой сабайnot so well
- สิบсипten
- เช็ค บิลчек бинthe bill, please
- เบียร์бияbeer
- ชอบчопto like; to love
- บ้านбанhouse; home
- ครอบครัวкхропкхруаfamily
- บัตร เครดิตбат кхрэдитbank card
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «bo baimai (leaf)» it is “b (final p)”, as in the word “บ้าน”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 63 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Thai character บ read?
As “b (final p)” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. Middle class. A plain b at the start of a word; at the end it closes as an unreleased p. For example, in the word “บ้าน” — house.
What is the letter บ called?
Bo baimai (leaf). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “bo baimai (leaf)” and reads as “b (final p)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.