Tongue Thai’d Translations

While in the West we can be quite squeamish when talking about bodily functions, and frequently employ euphemisms (‘going to see a man about a dog’, ‘going to powder one’s nose’), Thais generally have far fewer compunctions. This is not to say that there are not euphemisms, but their use is nowhere near as frequent, and Thais on the whole (if you’ll excuse my language), call a shit a shit.

The most useful word to know in this context is khee (ขี้). While on its own khee means something like ’shit’ (although it should be noted that while it is a rather blunt word, it is not considered swearing), in conjunction with other words is can mean almost any bodily excretion. For instance khee mook (ขี้มูก) is nasal mucus, khee huu (ขี้หู) is earwax, khee dtaa (ขี้ตา) is sleep from one’s eyes, and so on. You also find prik khee nu chillies, which in English are often called ‘bird’s eye’ chillies, but which actually translates as ‘mouse shit chillies’.

The equivalent word when it comes to urination, which means something along the lines of ‘pee’ in English, ischee (ฉี่), although in slightly more vulgar speech one might use the word yiaw (เยี่ยว), a word commonly used when talking about animals (hence the name for preserved eggs – khai yiaw maa – which literally means ‘horse piss eggs’. Appetising stuff).

A further word for poo, commonly used when talking to or about small children, is eu (อึ), a word that sounds so much like a young child straining to go, that it is surely onomatopoeic.

Of course, these words are very informal, and one would not normally use them in a formal context, or when talking to one’s doctor. Here one would use the word bpassawa (ปัสสาวะ) for urine, and tai bpassawa (ถ่ายปัสสาวะ) for urinate. Similarly, stools are utchara (อุจจาระ), and to defecate is tai utchara.

Another rather formal word for urine, and one that surely began as a euphemism, as the word otherwise means ‘to relieve’, ‘light’, ‘easy’, is bao (เบา). This word is used when talking of the Royal Family, and is also preserved in bao waan (literally ’sweet urine’) or diabetes.

Finally, Thais do sometimes employ more obvious euphemisms. If you are a woman and you bpai det dork mai (‘go to pick flowers’), you might actually be going to the loo, while the equivalent for men is bpai ying gratai (‘go to shoot rabbits’), expressions which no doubt have their origins in the fields.

If you are not in the fields, you will do your business in the hong nam (ห้องน้ำ – ‘water room’), hong suam (ห้องส้วม – ‘latrine room’), or more formally, the sukha (สุขา). This last one would seem to derive from suk, or pleasure. So glad to have got that out.