ช — cho chang (elephant)
«cho chang (elephant)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “ch (low class)”. Low class. A ch with a puff of air, nearly identical to ฉ by ear — the syllable's tone is what tells them apart. For example, in the word “ช้าง” — elephant. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. It appears, for example, in the word “ใช่” — yes.
In short
| Character | ช |
| Name | cho chang (elephant) |
| Sound | ch (low class) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 24th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ฆ and ซ, appears in 291 words of this site.
How to type ช
- 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+0E0A 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 0E0A.
- Unicode code point: U+0E0A. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Low class. A ch with a puff of air, nearly identical to ฉ by ear — the syllable's tone is what tells them apart
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.
- ช้างчхангelephant
The character in the “low class: stops and aspirates” group
The first half of อักษรต่ำ: the kh, ch, th, ph, f, s letters. They sound just like their high-class twins; the difference is in the tone. A live syllable with no mark reads mid here, not rising. A dead one reads high after a short vowel and falling after a long one.
- คkh (low class)kho khwai (buffalo)
- ฅkh (obsolete, as ค)kho khon (person)
- ฆkh (spare, Pali loans)kho rakhang (bell)
- ซs (the only low one)so so (chain)
- ฌch (spare, Pali loans)cho choe (tree)
- ฑth (low class, spare)tho monto (Montho)
- ฒth (rare, as ท)tho phuthao (old man)
- ทth (the common one)tho thahan (soldier)
- ธth (Pali loans)tho thong (flag)
- พph (low class)pho phan (tray)
Words with this character
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 «cho chang (elephant)» it is “ch (low class)”, as in the word “ช้าง”), 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 ช read?
As “ch (low class)” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. Low class. A ch with a puff of air, nearly identical to ฉ by ear — the syllable's tone is what tells them apart. For example, in the word “ช้าง” — elephant.
What is the letter ช called?
Cho chang (elephant). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “cho chang (elephant)” and reads as “ch (low class)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.