ต้น แบบ
“ต้น แบบ” (тон бэп) — prototype; model example in Thai. Noun, level B1. Literally "root-pattern": the prime pattern by which the rest are made. A substance specimen is the sample word; a model to emulate is this one. In a live sentence: “ต้น แบบ เครื่อง ใหม่ ยัง ทำ งาน ไม่ ครบ” — The prototype of the new device does not work fully yet. Written with the characters ต, ้, น, แ, บ, บ. A word from the everyday Thai course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ต้น แบบ |
| Read in Latin letters | тон бэп |
| Translation | prototype; model example |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "root-pattern": the prime pattern by which the rest are made. A substance specimen is the sample word; a model to emulate is this one
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.
- ต้น แบบ เครื่อง ใหม่ ยัง ทำ งาน ไม่ ครบтон бэп кхрыанг май янг тхам нган май кхропThe prototype of the new device does not work fully yet
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 “prototype; model example” in Thai?
«ต้น แบบ», read “тон бэп”. In a live sentence: “ต้น แบบ เครื่อง ใหม่ ยัง ทำ งาน ไม่ ครบ” — The prototype of the new device does not work fully yet. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ต, ้, น, แ, บ, บ.
How is “ต้น แบบ” written in Latin letters?
тон бэп. 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 "root-pattern": the prime pattern by which the rest are made. A substance specimen is the sample word; a model to emulate is this one. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.