๋ — mai chattawa
«mai chattawa» is a vowel mark of the Thai script, read as “rising tone”. A little hook. On the middle class it gives the rising tone; on the low class, rarely, the same. For example, in the word “เก๋” — stylish. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. This character does not count as a letter of the alphabet. On a carrier the character looks like this: อ๋. It appears, for example, in the word “ตั๋ว” — ticket.
In short
| Character | ๋ |
| Name | mai chattawa |
| Sound | rising tone |
| What it is | a vowel mark |
| On the carrier | อ๋ |
In our course the character comes 67th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, before it comes ๊, appears in 26 words of this site.
How to type ๋
- 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+0E4B 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 0E4B.
- Type this sign after its base letter, even where it is drawn before it: letter first, then the sign, and they join.
- Unicode code point: U+0E4B. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A little hook. On the middle class it gives the rising tone; on the low class, rarely, the same
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.
- เก๋кэstylish
The character in the “tone marks” group
Four signs, shown on อ. One rule for all: a mark does not name a tone — it RECOMPUTES the tone from the consonant class. The same single stroke gives a low tone on ข and a falling tone on ค. The marks ๊ and ๋ are never placed on the high or low class at all, and that is part of the rule too.
Words with this character
- ตั๋วтуаticket
- ตั๋ว เที่ยว เดียวтуа тиао диаоone-way ticket
- ตั๋ว ไป กลับтуа пай клапreturn ticket
- กระเป๋า เดิน ทางкрапхао дён таангsuitcase
- กระเป๋าкрапхаоbag
- กระเป๋า ถือкрапхао тхыэcarry-on; hand luggage
- ตรวจ กระเป๋าтруат крапхаоbag check; search
- กระเป๋า สตางค์крапхао сатангwallet
- ตุ๋นтунto simmer; to stew
- กระเป๋า ถูก ขโมยкрапхао тхук кхамоойmy bag was stolen
- เดี๋ยว มาдыао маI will come in a moment
- ทำ ตั๋ว หายтхам туа хаайto lose a ticket
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 «mai chattawa» it is “rising tone”, as in the word “เก๋”), 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 ๋ read?
As “rising tone” — it is a vowel mark of the Thai script. A little hook. On the middle class it gives the rising tone; on the low class, rarely, the same. For example, in the word “เก๋” — stylish.
What is the sign ๋ called?
Mai chattawa. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “mai chattawa” and reads as “rising tone”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.