ถอย หลัง
“ถอย หลัง” (тхой ланг) — backward; back in Thai. Adverb, level A2. Literally "retreat with the back": one who drives or edges backward. In a car it is reverse gear, in a dance — a step back. In a live sentence: “ถอย หลัง หน่อย รถ จะ ออก” — Step back, the car is pulling out. Written with the characters ถ, อ, ย, ห, ล, ง. A word from the everyday Thai course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Thai | ถอย หลัง |
| Read in Latin letters | тхой ланг |
| Translation | backward; back |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "retreat with the back": one who drives or edges backward. In a car it is reverse gear, in a dance — a step back
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.
- ถอย หลัง หน่อย รถ จะ ออกтхой ланг ной рот ча оокStep back, the car is pulling out
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 “backward; back” in Thai?
«ถอย หลัง», read “тхой ланг”. In a live sentence: “ถอย หลัง หน่อย รถ จะ ออก” — Step back, the car is pulling out. Adverb, level A2; written with the characters ถ, อ, ย, ห, ล, ง.
How is “ถอย หลัง” written in Latin letters?
тхой ланг. 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 "retreat with the back": one who drives or edges backward. In a car it is reverse gear, in a dance — a step back. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.