Rhyming expressions

[Rikker]

Hiya all!

This isn't exactly a question from a beginner, but this is the most active of the Thai language forums, so I'll poste here and hope everyone has fun contributing.

I'm interested in "rhyming expressions" in Thai, as discussed in DogoDon's thread about the phrase ผิดพ้องหมองใจ.

I've collected 300 or so of these expressions in a spreadsheet as I see them in books I read. I'd like to use this thread as a place to post new ones you come across, and to inquire about those that you don't understand fully. We could even discuss the origins of some of these phrases.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Here are some basic examples:

สกปรก [สก-กะ-ปรก] = dirty. The first and last syllables rhyme.

รอบคอบ = careful or cautious, as in someone who doesn't leave loose ends undone.

จุดหมายปลายทาง = destination. The rhyme is in the middle two syllables.

They get more complicated than that. Some rhyming expressions are "elaborate," because they express an idea in a more linguistically complex way, usually for the sake of sounding good. Some examples:

ทำไร่ไถนา = to farm. This expresses the same idea as ทำนา or ทำไร่, but it does it with a rhyme, and sounds more attractive to the Thai ear. The word ไถ, to plow, works well here because it rhymes and is also a verb associated with farming.

ภูตผีปีศาจ = ghosts, demons, and such. It consists of a list of three types of spirits ภูต, ผี, and ปีศาจ. Put them all together into one expression, and it becomes an idiom. It's not a literal list of these three things, but means "ghosts and other ghost-like things."

I hope we'll have fun posting these, and that we'll learn new things about Thai in the process.

[Rikker]

Here's another one we've all likely heard:

ปู่ย่าตายาย = grandparents/ancestors. This is idiomatic because it doesn't have to literally refer only to your actual grandparents, but can include ancestors further back than that, too, in a general way. As in, ครอบครัวฉันนับถือศาสนาพุทธตั้งแต่ปู่ย่าตายายแล้ว, "My family has been Buddhist for generations."

[DogoDon]

Rikker,

Okay, I'll suggest some that I think are rhyming/alliterative expressions (with definitions from Sealang):

กะทันหัน: suddenly, abruptly; immediately; unexpectedly

คลางแคลง: to feel suspicious, have doubts

ปลุกปล้ำ: 1. to force (someone) by wrestling; to attack with force (and with intent to rape, rob). 2. to try hard, exert oneself; to strive with utmost effort.

สง่าผ่าเผย: 1. V to be dignified, majestic, proud. 2. sV majestically, proudly.

เยินยอ: to speak highly of, praise, laud.

สะทกสะท้าน: to be afraid, frightened; to shake with fear.

กระวนกระวาย: to be restless, uneasy, perturbed.

หน้านิ่วคิ้วขมวด: หน้านิ่ว means "to be sour-faced, frowning." คิ้วขมวด means "to knit the brow".

มิหนำซ้ำ: in addition, moreover, worse than that.

กรอบแกรบ: a crackling sound.

วิเวกวังเวง: ADJ deserted, lonely; forlorn; desolate

อึกทึก: to be noisy.

อึกทึกครึกโครม: noisy, loud; boisterous; tumultuous


How many more do you want? These are just a small sampling of ones I have come across in the book I am currently reading. Hope they help!

DogoDon

[Rikker]

Thanks, DogoDon. In theory, I want "all of them."

But I want this thread to be useful and interesting for everyone, too. I don't want to overwhelm people. We can gradually post here and hopefully everyone will learn as we go along.

Alliterative expressions are even more common than rhyming expressions, and while I do collect those, too, I find that they are usually in the dictionaries I have.

So in the interest of having a manageable scope, for this thread perhaps we could limit ourselves to those that rhyme in the commonly used sense, that is, they have syllables that share a vowel (and usually final consonant). Of course, we could always start a new thread for alliterative/reduplicative expressions.

สง่าผ่าเผย, อึกทึก (which is should be noted is three syllables), อึกทึกครึกโครม, มิหนำซ้ำ, and หน้านิ่วคิ้วขมวด are all great examples of rhyming expressions. Thanks!

[DogoDon]

Okay, I guess it makes sense to not include alliterative type expressions. So, here are a few more for you:

โกโรโกโส: to be dilapidated. (I also found another definition as "dirty, shabby", but can't recall what dictionary it was in)

เดินเหิน: to walk

เอื้อเฟื้อ: 1 V to be obliging, generous. 2 V to help, support (with kindness); to be charitable to.

I have also seen เอื้อเฟื้อ used in combination with เจือจาน, which means "to share". Thus, I will also submit this entry:

เอื้อเฟื้อเจือจาน: (same definition as เอื้อเฟื้อ)


I'll keep scouring my book for more!

DogoDon

[DogoDon]

A few more:

แยแส: to pay attention (to), mind, show interest (in).

ด่าโขมงโฉงเฉง: this is one I can't find exactly in the dictionary, but here is my interpretation of it: ด่า means to scold. โขมง according to Sealang is used with ควัน "smoke," คุย "talk," to mean "in large amounts, profusely." The Royal Institute dictionary indicates that โฉงเฉง means เอะอะเอ็ดอึงเป็นทำนองเกะกะเกเร. Thus, I would define this expression as something like "to scold profusely in a loud and disorderly manner". Perhaps you can confirm or refute my definition?

สาวเท้า: to stride, march

แห้งแล้ง: 1 V to be dry, arid. 2 V to be dreary, empty of life and freshness.

Dogodon

[Rikker]

I've also seen เอื้อเฟื้อ in the phrase เอื้อเฟื้อเผื่อแผ่, with the same meaning.

Both เอื้อเฟื้อ and เผื่อแผ่ can be used separately, too.

[Nu]

I'd like to add a few

Dogo Don, I hope you don't mind if I add to a couple of yours with basically the same meaning.
สรรเสริญเยินยอ
ปลุกปล้ำร้ำรุก
And this is from the question in one of your posts
เครื่องใช้ไม้สอย utensils or equipments

ตีค้องร้องป่าว calling for a meeting or making aware by beating a drum and call out in a loud voice in the same fashion as a town cryer

ล้มลุกครุกคราน falling down and crawl on all four

ชุลมุนวุ่นวาย disorderly

I'll try to think of some more. Thanks for posting this topic. I am having fun trying to think of these rhyming expressions.

[Pailin]

This weekend I'll go through my old ป.๑ work books and see if I have any to add. Often in the workbooks they have a matching game and they ask you to pair to words to make a rhyming phrase. Most of the time the rhymes were based on the middle (usually 2nd and 3rd) syllables rhyming which was very odd for us as it didn't rhyme as we defined rhyme.

[DogoDon]

A couple more:

เพ่งเล็ง: to focus one's mind or attention on

Here is one I'm not sure is a common expression, but I invite comments:

อินังขังขอบ: Sealang defines อินัง as "to care, pay attention to; be concerned with". I understand ขัง can be added as an intensifier, so combined with อินัง I suppose the meaning would be "to care very much for". Now, how ขอบ fits into the expression is not clear to me, but from the context of the sentence I found this in, it appears to be part of the expression.

Comments?

DogoDon