เลข
“เลข” (лек) — number; figure in Thai. Noun, level A1, topic — numbers and counting. Number in general and the school digit: "he loves the number nine". Nearby lives tua lek — "digit", the sign on paper. In a live sentence: “เขา ชอบ เลข เก้า” — He loves the number nine. Written with the characters เ, ล, ข. One of 57 words in the set “numbers and counting” in the Thai course.
In short
| Written in Thai | เลข |
| Read in Latin letters | лек |
| Translation | number; figure |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Number in general and the school digit: "he loves the number nine". Nearby lives tua lek — "digit", the sign on paper
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- เขา ชอบ เลข เก้าкхао чоп лэк каоHe loves the number nine
Nearby words: numbers and counting
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
- หนึ่งнынгoneA classifier must follow the number: nueng khon — "one person", nueng kaeo — "one glass". A bare nueng does not live in speech about things
- สองсонгtwoThai borrowed its numerals twice: the native "two" and the bookish song stand in a row — in speech people say song
- สามсамthreeNumber plus classifier, always a pair: saam khon — "three people". The classifier is chosen by the object, not by the number
- สี่сиfourSounds like the word "to die" said with a different tone, so hospitals and hotels often skip fours: after the third floor comes the fifth
- ห้าхаfiveThe tone falls. Further along the count the classifier is obligatory: haa kaeo — "five glasses"
- หกхокsixThe tone is low. The clock is told through mong: hok mong — "six o'clock", literally "six strikes"
- เจ็ดджетsevenNot "eight": that is paet. The Thai days of the week are named after colors, and Sunday is the red day — but the count is one for everything
- แปดпэтeightThe tone falls. The lucky number: it sounds like the word "to prosper", so Thais pick eights first in phone numbers and addresses
- เก้าкаоnineThe tone falls, a long "aa". It argues with khao, "he", in tones alone: the numeral falls, the pronoun rises
- สิบсипtenThe final p is not released: sip, not sipa. Everything above ten is assembled from it: sip et — eleven, literally "ten one"
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “numbers and counting”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “number; figure” in Thai?
Number in general and the school digit: "he loves the number nine". Nearby lives tua lek — "digit", the sign on paper
- How do you say “seven” in Thai?
Not "eight": that is paet. The Thai days of the week are named after colors, and Sunday is the red day — but the count is one for everything
- How do you say “three” in Thai?
Number plus classifier, always a pair: saam khon — "three people". The classifier is chosen by the object, not by the number
- How do you say “ten” in Thai?
The final p is not released: sip, not sipa. Everything above ten is assembled from it: sip et — eleven, literally "ten one"
- How do you say “six” in Thai?
The tone is low. The clock is told through mong: hok mong — "six o'clock", literally "six strikes"
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “number; figure” in Thai?
«เลข», read “лек”. In a live sentence: “เขา ชอบ เลข เก้า” — He loves the number nine. Noun, level A1, from the set “numbers and counting”; written with the characters เ, ล, ข.
How is “เลข” written in Latin letters?
лек. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Number in general and the school digit: "he loves the number nine". Nearby lives tua lek — "digit", the sign on paper. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.