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LESSON 26.A. CONVERSATION
26.A.1.(b). Duplicated words.

Although as you have probably noticed it is very difficult to say exactly what constitutes a single word in Thai, there are many cases where it is quite clear that two words are used together when it would appear that one of the words alone would suffice.

Once you realise the existence of these double words they do not cause you much trouble because in a great many cases they can be recognised by the fact that they form an alliterative or euphonic combination.

An important thing to note is that the word order in these combinations is fixed and cannot be reversed. These duplicated words fall broadly into two categories.

  1. Where both words have substantially the same meaning and either at times may be used alone.


    		 YY DTO
    ใหญ่โต
    		 Big.
    		Both words have the same meaning and either may be used alone.

    		SOO-AY NGAHM
    สวยงาม

    		 Pretty, beautiful.
    		 As above.

    		PREE-AP TEE-AP
    เปรียบเทียบ

    		 To compare.
    		 As above.

    		CHEE-O CHAHN
    เชี่ยวชาญ

    		 Experienced,
    skilled.
    		As above.

    		PLEE-AN PLAANG
    เปลี่ยนแปลง

    		 To change.
    		 As above.

    		FEUK HUT
    ฝึกหัด

    		 To practice,
    to train.
    		As above.

    		PERM DTERM
    เพิ่มเติม
    		 To augment.
    		 PERM “to increase”.
    DTERM “to add to”,
    “to supplement”.

    		CHEEWIT CHEEWAH
    ชีวิตชีวา
    		 Lively.
    		 CHEEWIT “life”.
    CHEEWAH “life”.

  2. Where one or both of the words used alone have a meaning entirely unrelated to that of the combination, or in certain cases where one of the words does not exist at all on its own.


    		 PRUP PROONG
    ปรับปรุง
    		 To adjust.
    		 PRUP “to adjust”.
    PROONG “to flavour”,
    “to mix up”.

    		SANOOK SANAHN
    สนุกสนาน
    		 Having fun.
    		 SANOOK “happy”, “enjoyable”.
    SANAHN “bathing”.

    		SANUP SANOON
    สนับสนุน
    		 To encourage,
    to support.
    		SANUP “to lay on top of”.
    SANOON has no meaning.

    		SANIT SANOM
    สนิทสนม
    		 Very intimate
    with.
    		SANIT “intimate”.
    SANOM “a concubine”.

    		EUT UT
    อึดอัด
    		 Uneasy.
    		 EUT “to tolerate”.
    UT “to restrain”.

    		CHOO-AY LEU-A
    ช่วยเหลือ
    		 To help
    generally.
    		CHOO-AY “to help”.
    LEU-A “to be left over”, “to exceed”.

    		KOO-AP KOOM
    ควบคุม
    		 To superintend,
    to control.
    		KOO-AP “to mix”,
    “to put together”.
    KOOM “to arrange”,
    “to control”.

Although in certain cases the use of the double words shown above clearly gives a particular shade of meaning, it appears that these duplications are more often than not used merely for emphasis or for euphonic reasons.

Similar types of double words also occur in English such as “Fast and furious”, “Complete and utter”, “Really and truly”, “Over and above” etc.

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Generated by Lyndon Hill on Thu Jul 20 18:40:35 BST 2006.

Copyright remains with the original authors.