ุ — sara u
«sara u» is a vowel of the Thai script, read as “short u (below)”. A quick u as in "put"; written BELOW the consonant. For example, in the word “ลุก” — to get up. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. On a carrier the character looks like this: อุ. It appears, for example, in the word “ขอบคุณ” — thank you.
In short
| Character | ุ |
| Name | sara u |
| Sound | short u (below) |
| What it is | a vowel |
| On the carrier | อุ |
In our course the character comes 57th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ื and ู, appears in 300 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+0E38 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 0E38.
- 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+0E38. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A quick u as in "put"; written BELOW the consonant
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.
- ลุกлукto get up
The character in the “vowel marks around the letter” group
Shown on the carrier อ, as in a Thai classroom: by itself a vowel mark is not readable. Short and long pairs (ะ/า, ิ/ี, ึ/ื, ุ/ู) carry meaning as firmly as ship and sheep. They also decide whether the syllable is live. A short vowel with nothing after it makes the syllable dead, and that changes the tone.
Words with this character
- ขอบคุณкхопкхунthank you
- กรุณาкарунаplease (as a request)
- คุณ เป็น อย่างไรкхун пен янграйhow are you? (polite)
- คุณкхунyou
- พวก คุณпхуак кхунyou (plural)
- คุณ ชื่อ อะไร?кхун чыэ арай?what is your name?
- คุณ มา จาก ไหนкхун ма джак найwhere are you from?
- ซุปсупsoup
- พรุ่ง นี้пхрунг нийtomorrow
- สุกсукripe; cooked; ready
- ถุงтхунгbag
- หนุ่มнумyoung man
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 «sara u» it is “short u (below)”, as in the word “ลุก”), 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 “short u (below)” — it is a vowel of the Thai script. A quick u as in "put"; written BELOW the consonant. For example, in the word “ลุก” — to get up.
What is the sign ุ called?
Sara u. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “sara u” and reads as “short u (below)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.