1. The use of a Thai Dictionary usually presents some difficultly at first becuase of the fact previously mentioned that the vowels have no place in the alphabetical order of the consonants but form a separate series of their own.

   The words are arranged firstly in order of consonants, then in order of vowels and finally in order of tone marks.

   A list of the consonants and vowels is given in The Thai alphabet and system of transliteration in the order in which they will be found in any standard dictionary except that ฤ and ฤๅ come after ร, and ฦ and ฦๅ after ล.

2. To look up a word in a Thai dictionary proceed as follows.
   1. Look up the first consonant of the word in its place in the alphabetical order irrespective of whether or not it happens to be a silent consonant. Do not take any notice of a vowel form which may precede the first consonant; that will be considered later.

      หรือ REU “or”.

      Look up under the letter ห although in this case it is a silent consonant.

      ไป PY “go”.

      Look up under ป.

   2. If there is no written vowel associated with the first consonant go on to the second consonant.

      สนาม SANAHM “a lawn”.

      First look up under ส them สน, then สนา and finally สนาม.

   3. If there is a written vowel associated with the first consonant, look up the consonant and then the vowel irrespective of the position of the vowel with relation to the consonant.

      สาม SAHM “three”.

      Look up under ส and then after all combinations of ส with another consonant we come to สะ, สั and finally สา.

      Run through สาก, สาข, สาค etc. until you come to สาม.

      เล็ก LEK “small”.

      Look up under ล and then after all the combinations of ล with another consonant go on through ละ, ลั etc. until you come to เล.

   4. If there are two initial consonants the dictionary order of the word depends on whether or not the vowel, if a simple one is predisposed, or if a compound one, has a predisposed component. If the vowel is not predisposed or has no predisposed component we proceed as before and look up the first consonant, then the second and finally the vowel.

      ครู KROO “teacher”.

      Look up under ค, then คร and finally ครู.

      สบาย SABAI “happy”.

      Look up under ส, then สบ and finally สบาย.

      If the simple vowel is a predisposed one or the compound vowel has a predisposed component we look up under the first consonant, then the predisposed vowel form and then the other consonants and vowels in order taking the consonant always before the vowel associated with it.

      ใคร KRY “who”.

      Look up under ค, then under ใค and finally ใคร.

      แมลง MALAANG “insect”.

      Look up under ม, then แม, then แมล and finally แมลง.

      เหมือน MEU-AN “the same”.

      Look up under ห, then เห, then เหม, then เหมื and finally เหมือน.

   5. The order of the tone marks is, “No tone mark”, (-่), (-้), (-๊) and (-๋) but there are no words where all the tone marks are used.

      The arrangement of the words with reference to tone marks, which it must be remembered is a tertiary arrangement after their arrangement with reference to consonant order and vowel order is set out below with specific examples.

      1. จอง JORNG “to book”, “to reserve”.

      2. Compound with จอง if any.

      3. จ่อง JORNG “shade”.

      4. Compounds with จ่อง if any.

      5. จ้อง JORNG “to watch and wait”.

      6. Compounds with จ้อง such as จ้องดู “to look fixedly at”.

      7. จ๋อง JORNG “lonely”.

      8. Compounds with จ๋อง if any.

      9. Then on through the alphabetical order of the next letter of vowel symbol taking all words if any starting with จอง ก, first, then จ่อง ก, and then จ้อง ก etc. and then going onto จอง ข, จ่อง ข, จ้อง ข and so on.

      Although all these rules sound very complicated and confusing at first, you will find that once you know the order of the consonants and vowels you will soon pick up the procedure even if you have to search a little at the beginning.

3. The following hints may help you find a word which at first sight may not appear to be in the dictionary at all.
   1. The short “a”, the “o” and the “or” sounds are often understood and not written.

      	ถนน	TANON	“road”
      	พบ	POP	“meet”
      	นคร	NAKORN	“city”

   2. A number of words beginning with กระ and ประ are often spelled with กะ and ปะ, and hence if you can’t find them under one spelling try the other.

   3. Some words starting with the “S” sound are spelled with ทร or ศร and a few words starting with the “J” sound are spelled จร.

   4. The vowel (-ั) MYHUNAGAHT is often represented by รร.

   5. A great many common words with the silent ห.
      If you forget about this and are not sure of the tone of the word and look them up under their sounded consonant you will probably come to the conclusion that they are not in the dictionary at all.
      If you come across a word and can’t find it where you think it ought to be the chances are that you will find it under ห.

      	เหมือน	MEU-AN	“the same”
      	หลาย	LAI	“many”

Generated by Lyndon Hill on Thu Jul 20 18:40:27 BST 2006.

Copyright remains with the original authors.