ทำ เล็บ
“ทำ เล็บ” (тхам лэп) — manicure in Thai. Noun, level A1. Literally "do the nails": lep, "nail", you know. A manicure in Thailand is inexpensive, and one often need not book at all. In a live sentence: “ผู้ หญิง ชอบ ทำ เล็บ สี แดง” — Women love painting their nails red. Written with the characters ท, ำ, เ, ล, บ. A word from the everyday Thai course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ทำ เล็บ |
| Read in Latin letters | тхам лэп |
| Translation | manicure |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "do the nails": lep, "nail", you know. A manicure in Thailand is inexpensive, and one often need not book at all
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.
- ผู้ หญิง ชอบ ทำ เล็บ สี แดงпхуу йинг чоп тхам лэп си дээнгWomen love painting their nails red
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 “manicure” in Thai?
«ทำ เล็บ», read “тхам лэп”. In a live sentence: “ผู้ หญิง ชอบ ทำ เล็บ สี แดง” — Women love painting their nails red. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ท, ำ, เ, ล, บ.
How is “ทำ เล็บ” written in Latin letters?
тхам лэп. 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?
Literally "do the nails": lep, "nail", you know. A manicure in Thailand is inexpensive, and one often need not book at all. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.