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Today's blog I'd love to share 12 months in Thai. When I was young, I found it was difficult to remember, later I just knew that they are not real Thai words! I tried to relate a few months to my birth month and family-member-birth months. I recommend you apply the same technique and I also have a tip to call months in an easy way. You can use the same technique to memorize the month by relating it to yours, your family members or festivals in Thailand such as เทศกาลสงกรานต์ (Songkran Festival), เทศกาลลอยกระทง (Loy Krathong Festival) - the latter one depends on the lunar calendar. In this post, you will discover the origin of Thai months. Let's dive in!
The names are derived from Hindu astrology. They are the zodiacs in Sanskrit and combined with a suffix from Sanskrit (I'll explain the suffixes later).
The tables show the zodiacs of Sanskrit and English.
Sanskrit | English |
मकर /makara/ = crocodile | Capricorn |
कुम्भ /kumbhakAra/ = potter | Aquarius |
मीन /mIna/ = fish | Pisces |
मेष /meSa/ = sheep | Aries |
वृषभ /vRSabha/ = ox | Taurus |
मिथुन /mithuna/ = couple, twin | Gemini |
कर्कट /karkaTa/ = crab | Cancer |
सिंह /siMha/ = lion | Leo |
कन्या /kanya/ = girl | Virgo |
तुला /tUlA/ = scale | Libra |
वृश्चिक / vRzcika / = scorpio | Scorpio |
धनुष dhanuHsAlA = bow | Sagittarius |
If you know Thai months, do you notice Sanskrit words sound very similar to Thai months?
The names of Thai months are portmanteau words from zodiacs in Sanskrit and Sanskrit suffixes. There are 3 suffixes, which help to identify how many days of those months which are คม /–khōm/, ยน/–jōn/ and พัน/–phān/.
For example,
Months ended in the suffix with คม/–khōm/, there are 31 days.
Months ended in the suffix with ยน/–jōn/, there are 30 days.
A month ended with in the suffix with พัน/–phān/, there are 28 days.
*Please note the suffix (I underlined) is omitted in colloquial (spoken language).
When we call a month, we start with เดือน /dɨ̄an/ + name of the month. Also, we drop the word เดือน /dɨ̄an/ in colloquial.
PRO TIP! If you can't remember month names, you can say เดือน /dɨ̄an/ + the cardinal number of the month. For instance, เดือน 1 /dɨ̄an nɨ̌ŋ/ is January, เดือน 12 /dɨ̄an sìp·sɔ̌ɔŋ/ is December. However, when you want to say เดือน /dɨ̄an/ + cardinal number of the month, you cannot drop the word เดือน /dɨ̄an/.
Let's get started the 12 months in Thai!
มกราคม /mákrārā•khōm/ = January
กุมภาพันธ์ /kūmphāa•phān/ = February
มีนาคม /mīināa•khōm/ = March
เมษายน /mēesǎa•jōn/ = April
พฤษภาคม /phrɨ́tsāphāa•khōm/ = May
มิถุนายน/míthùnāa•jōn/ = June
กรกฎาคม /kārákkādāa•khōm/ = July
สิงหาคม /sǐnghǎa•khōm/ = August
กันยายน /kānjāa•jōn/=September
/tùlāa•khōm/ ตุลาคม = October
/phrɨ́tsācìkāa•jōn/ พฤศจิกายน = November
/thānwāa•khōm/ ธันวาคม =December
To summarize
Thai months are portmanteau word from Sanskrit zodiacs and combined with suffixes to help Thais memorize how many days of the month. In general, Thais drop the suffix (คม /–khōm/, ยน/–jōn/ and พัน/–phān/) in spoken language and also in informal writing. The easiest way to call months for beginners, you can use the word เดือน /dɨ̄an/ + cardinal number of the month.
If you'd like to know the history of Thai months, I recommend you READ this article (Thai explaination).
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ครูพอลีน
Great post! 😁