ย — yo yak (giant)
«yo yak (giant)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “y (the common one)”. Low class. A y; at the end of a syllable it glides like the y of "stay". For example, in the word “ยักษ์” — giant. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. Pairs with ญ: same sound, both low class, but native words take ย and bookish ones take ญ. It appears, for example, in the word “สวัสดี ตอน บ่าย” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | ย |
| Name | yo yak (giant) |
| Sound | y (the common one) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 39th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ม and ร, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How to type ย
- 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+0E22 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 0E22.
- Unicode code point: U+0E22. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Low class. A y; at the end of a syllable it glides like the y of "stay"
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.
- ยักษ์йакgiant
The character in the “low class: nasals and sonorants” group
The second half of อักษรต่ำ: n, m, y, r, l, w, ng. They close a syllable "alive", so a syllable ending in one of them needs no tone mark to be live. One class holds both lists; the split is for the table, not for grammar.
Words with this character
- สวัสดี ตอน บ่ายсаватди тон байgood afternoon
- สบายดี ไหม?сабайди май?how are you?
- คุณ เป็น อย่างไรкхун пен янграйhow are you? (polite)
- สบายดีсабайдиfine
- ไม่ค่อย สบายмайкхой сабайnot so well
- เยี่ยม มากйиам макgreat
- ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จักйинди ти дай руджакnice to meet you
- ผม เป็น คน รัสเซียпхом пен кхон ратсияI am Russian
- สวัสดี ตอน เย็นсаватди тон йенgood evening
- ยูโรйуроeuro
- เนย แข็งнёй кхэнгcheese
- เบียร์бияbeer
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 «yo yak (giant)» it is “y (the common one)”, as in the word “ยักษ์”), 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 ย read?
As “y (the common one)” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. Low class. A y; at the end of a syllable it glides like the y of "stay". For example, in the word “ยักษ์” — giant.
What is the letter ย called?
Yo yak (giant). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “yo yak (giant)” and reads as “y (the common one)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ย be confused with?
Pairs with ญ: same sound, both low class, but native words take ย and bookish ones take ญ. 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.