The 10 high-class letters. Here's the beautiful part: you can hear the class in the letter's name. Every high-class name carries a rising tone — khǎw, chǎw, thǎw, sǎw, hǎw. If you learn the names with their tones, you never have to memorise which class a letter belongs to. All high-class letters are aspiratedi (a puff of air) or fricativesi (s, f, h).
Every Thai consonant has a two-part name: its sound plus a word that starts with it — like saying “A for Apple.” So ก is gaw gài: “gaw” is the sound, ไก่gài means chicken. Tap a card to hear the full name, or the pill to hear just the word.
ข
khǎw khài
“egg”
ฉ
chǎw chìng
“small cymbals”
ฐ
thǎw thǎan
“pedestal”
ถ
thǎw thǔng
“bag / sack”
ผ
phǎw phûeng
“bee”
ฝ
fǎw fǎa
“lid”
ศ
sǎw sǎa-laa
“pavilion”
ษ
sǎw ruue-sǐi
“hermit”
ส
sǎw sǔea
“tiger”
ห
hǎw hìip
“chest / box”
Obsolete letter
Part of the traditional 44-letter alphabet but no longer used in modern spelling — worth recognising, so it is shown here, but never tested.