ถูก
“ถูก” (тхуук) — cheap in Thai. Adjective, level A1. The same word means "true, correct": the context, not the form, holds the difference. The pair of "expensive", and both words live in the haggle. In a live sentence: “ผล ไม้ ที่ ตลาด ถูก” — Fruit at the market is cheap. Written with the characters ถ, ู, ก. A word from the everyday Thai course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ถูก |
| Read in Latin letters | тхуук |
| Translation | cheap |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The same word means "true, correct": the context, not the form, holds the difference. The pair of "expensive", and both words live in the haggle
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.
- ผล ไม้ ที่ ตลาด ถูกпон май ти талат тхуукFruit at the market is cheap
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 “cheap” in Thai?
«ถูก», read “тхуук”. In a live sentence: “ผล ไม้ ที่ ตลาด ถูก” — Fruit at the market is cheap. Adjective, level A1; written with the characters ถ, ู, ก.
How is “ถูก” written in Latin letters?
тхуук. 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?
The same word means "true, correct": the context, not the form, holds the difference. The pair of "expensive", and both words live in the haggle. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.