ห — ho hip (chest)
«ho hip (chest)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “h (silent class shifter)”. High class. A light breath of h; in front of another consonant it goes silent and only lifts the pair into the high class. For example, in the word “หีบ” — chest (box). The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. A service role: หนอน "worm" reads non — the tone counts ห, not น. It appears, for example, in the word “สบายดี ไหม?” — how are you?
In short
| Character | ห |
| Name | ho hip (chest) |
| Sound | h (silent class shifter) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 20th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ส and ค, appears in 628 words of this site.
How to type ห
- 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+0E2B 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 0E2B.
- Unicode code point: U+0E2B. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
High class. A light breath of h; in front of another consonant it goes silent and only lifts the pair into the high class
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.
- หีบхипchest (box)
The character in the “high class — eleven consonants” group
อักษรสูง. A live syllable with no mark reads rising, a dead one reads low. The silent letter ห lives here. In front of another consonant it makes no sound of its own, but it lifts the pair into the high class.
- ขkh (aspirated k)kho khai (egg)
- ฃkh (obsolete, as ข)kho khuat (bottle)
- ฉch (aspirated)cho ching (curtain)
- ฐth (spare, Pali loans)tho than (base)
- ถth (aspirated t)tho thung (bag)
- ผph (aspirated p)pho phueng (bee)
- ฝf (high class)fo fa (lid)
- ศs (spare, Pali loans)so sala (pavilion)
- ษs (rare, Sanskrit)so ruesi (hermit)
- สs (the common one)so suea (tiger)
Words with this character
- สบายดี ไหม?сабайди май?how are you?
- คุณ มา จาก ไหนкхун ма джак найwhere are you from?
- พูด ภาษา อังกฤษ ได้ ไหม?пхуыт пхаса ангкрит дай май?do you speak English?
- ร้าน อาหารран аханrestaurant
- อาหารаханfood
- หนึ่งнынгone
- ห้าхаfive
- เท่า ไหร่?тао рай?how much is it?
- หกхокsix
- อยู่ ที่ไหนю тинайwhere?
- หลง ทางлонг таангI am lost
- ได้ ไหม?дай май?may I?; is it possible?
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 «ho hip (chest)» it is “h (silent class shifter)”, as in the word “หีบ”), 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 ห read?
As “h (silent class shifter)” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. High class. A light breath of h; in front of another consonant it goes silent and only lifts the pair into the high class. For example, in the word “หีบ” — chest (box).
What is the letter ห called?
Ho hip (chest). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “ho hip (chest)” and reads as “h (silent class shifter)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.