ข — kho khai (egg)
«kho khai (egg)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “kh (aspirated k)”. High class. A k with a distinct puff of air, like the k in "kit" said with an audible breath. For example, in the word “ข้าว” — rice; food. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. Pairs with ค: same sound, different class — and the class decides the syllable's tone. It appears, for example, in the word “ขอบคุณ” — thank you.
In short
| Character | ข |
| Name | kho khai (egg) |
| Sound | kh (aspirated k) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 10th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are อ and ฃ, appears in 410 words of this site.
How to type ข
- 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+0E02 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 0E02.
- Unicode code point: U+0E02. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
High class. A k with a distinct puff of air, like the k in "kit" said with an audible breath
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.
- ข้าวкхаоrice; food
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.
- 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)
- หh (silent class shifter)ho hip (chest)
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 «kho khai (egg)» it is “kh (aspirated k)”, as in the word “ข้าว”), 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 ข read?
As “kh (aspirated k)” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. High class. A k with a distinct puff of air, like the k in "kit" said with an audible breath. For example, in the word “ข้าว” — rice; food.
What is the letter ข called?
Kho khai (egg). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “kho khai (egg)” and reads as “kh (aspirated k)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ข be confused with?
Pairs with ค: same sound, different class — and the class decides the syllable's tone. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.