ค — kho khwai (buffalo)

In short

In our course the character comes 21st of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ห and ฅ, appears in 569 words of this site.

How to type ค

• 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+0E04 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 0E04.
• Unicode code point: U+0E04. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.

How it sounds

Low class. Sounds like ข; between vowels it drifts toward a g, which is why transliterations waver

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.

• ควาย

  кхуай

  water buffalo

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.

• ฅkh (obsolete, as ค)kho khon (person)
• ฆkh (spare, Pali loans)kho rakhang (bell)
• ชch (low class)cho chang (elephant)
• 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

• ขอบคุณ

  кхопкхун

  thank you
• คุณ เป็น อย่างไร

  кхун пен янграй

  how are you? (polite)
• ไม่ค่อย สบาย

  майкхой сабай

  not so well
• คุณ

  кхун

  you
• พวก คุณ

  пхуак кхун

  you (plural)
• คุณ ชื่อ อะไร?

  кхун чыэ арай?

  what is your name?
• เรา สอง คน

  рао сонг кхон

  the two of us
• คุณ มา จาก ไหน

  кхун ма джак най

  where are you from?
• ผม เป็น คน รัสเซีย

  пхом пен кхон ратсия

  I am Russian
• พูด อีกครั้ง

  пхуыт иккхранг

  say it again, please
• เช็ค บิล

  чек бин

  the bill, please
• ร้าน ค้า

  ран кха

  shop; store

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 khwai (buffalo)» it is “kh (low class)”, as in the word “ควาย”), 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 times
  Adesope, 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 times
  Donovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.

Next

• The whole Thai alphabet63 letters in a single table
• Letter ฅ — kho khon (person)sound “kh (obsolete, as ค)”
• Letter ฆ — kho rakhang (bell)sound “kh (spare, Pali loans)”
• Letter ช — cho chang (elephant)sound “ch (low class)”
• Letter ซ — so so (chain)sound “s (the only low one)”