ภาย

Thai

Etymology

Mechanically, borrowed from Pali bhāya, though no such word appears to exist in Pali or Sanskrit. It appears possible that the original term of borrowing is instead bhāga (part, share, portion), which apparently lenited the g to a y in Tai borrowings. However, the existence of a direct borrowing of bhāga in the form of ภาค (pâak) places this derivation in doubt. Cognate with Lao ພາຍ (phāi), Northern Thai ᨻᩣ᩠ᨿ, Khün ᨻᩣ᩠ᨿ, ᦗᦻ (paay), Shan ပၢႆး (páai).

Pronunciation

Orthographicภาย
bʰ ā y
Phonemic
พาย
b ā y
RomanizationPaiboonpaai
Royal Institutephai
(standard) IPA(key)/pʰaːj˧/(R)
Homophonesพาย

Noun

ภาย • (paai)

  1. (now only in combination) place, location; part, side; point, spot.
  2. (now only in combination) time, occasion; length (of time), duration.

Derived terms

Further reading

  • ภาย” in Thai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.