Thai words of Chinese origin Part 1

Introduction

When the ancestors of Thai people were in Guangxi province, their language received some influence from the Han Chinese there who spoke Yue Chinese.

List

Numbers

English	Character	Cantonese	Thai
2	双	Soeng	Sɔɔng
3	三	Saam	Saam
4 ^	四	Sei	Sii
5	五	Ng	Haa
6	六	Lok	Hok
7	七	Chat	Cet
8	八	Paat	Pɛɛt
9	九	Kau	Kaau
10	十	Sap	Sip
11	十一	Sap Yat	Sip Et
20	二十	Yii Sap	Yii Sip
10,000	萬	Maan	Meuan

Food-related and animals

English	Character	Cantonese	Thai
Cooked	熟	Sok	Suk
Infuse tea with hot water	沖	Chong	Chong
Tea	茶	Chaa	Chaa
Chinese congee	粥	Cok	Cok
Wax cooking	蠟	Laap	Laap
Peel the skin	剝	Mɔk/Pɔk	Pɔk
Horse	馬	Maa	Maa
Cat	貓	Maau	Maeu
Chicken	雞	Kai	Kai

Miscellaneous 

English	Character	Cantonese	Thai
Charcoal	炭	Thaan	Thaan
Room	房	Fɔɔng	Hɔɔng
Money	銀	Ngan	Ngən
Look far	望	Mɔɔng	Mɔɔng
Sound	聲	Sɛɛng	Siang
Ride (horse)	騎	Khɛɛ	Khii
Sad	愁	Sau	Sau
Point at	指	Jii	Chii
Glue	膠	Kaau	Kaau
How many ^	幾	Kei	Kii
Bad luck	衰	Soei	Suei
Invite	請	Chɛng	Chən
Old	舊	Kau	Kau
Classifier for type	樣	Yoeng	Yaang
Wide *	廣	Kwɔɔng	Kwaang
Comparative *	過	Kwɔɔ	Kwaa
Reply *	答	Taap	Tɔɔp
Send	送	Song	Song
Finished	沒	Muut	Mot
Ink	墨	Mak	Meuk
Emit out	噴	Phan	Phon
Bottom	底	Tai	Taai
Pus	膿	Nong	Nɔng
Powder	粉	Fan	Fun
Do something well	勁	Keng	Keng

 

Vowel correspondence

Group marked with ^

Some Yue Chinese and Hakka languages also have “ii” vowel where Thai has “ii” vowel although Cantonese has “ei” vowel.

Group marked with *

Some Thai words with “aa” vowel correspond with Cantonese “ɔɔ” vowel and vice versa.

Word origin

In Middle Chinese, number 5 is pronounced as “ngo” which is similar to proto-Tai which is pronounced as “ngaa”.

The Thai word 'hoi' (หอย) in certain seafood such as clams, mussels, oysters came from the Yue Chinese word 'hoi' (海) which means sea.

Sources

Han Chinese-Thai relationship - 漢泰關係詞的時間層次 (龔群虎 著; 復旦大學出版社, 2002)

Related links

Thai words of Chinese origin - Part 2

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/02/thai-words-of-chinese-origin-part-2.html

Origin of Thai language

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/08/origin-of-thai-language.html 

Last update: 8 Feb 2021
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