Thai script

Thai
อักษรไทย
Script type
CreatorRamkhamhaeng the Great
Time period
1283–present
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesStandard form:
Thai, Southern Thai
Non-standard form:
Lanna, Isan, Pattani Malay, Urak Lawoi and others
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Tai Viet
Sister systems
Fakkham
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Thai (352), ​Thai
Unicode
Unicode alias
Thai
U+0E00–U+0E7F
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and  , see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Thai script (Thai: อักษรไทย, RTGSakson thai) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (Thai: พยัญชนะ, phayanchana) and 16 vowel symbols (Thai: สระ, sara) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms and four tone diacritics (Thai: วรรณยุกต์ or วรรณยุต, wannayuk or wannayut) to create characters mostly representing syllables.

Although commonly referred to as the "Thai alphabet", the script is in fact not a true alphabet but an abugida, a writing system in which the full characters represent consonants with diacritical marks for vowels; the absence of a vowel diacritic gives an implied 'a' or 'o'. Consonants are written horizontally from left to right, and vowels following a consonant in speech are written above, below, to the left or to the right of it, or a combination of those.