นาง

Thai

Alternative forms
  • นัง (nang)

Etymology

From Proto-Southwestern Tai *naːŋᴬ⁴ (“lady”), from Proto-Tai *naːŋᴬ (“lady”), from Old Chinese 娘 (OC *naŋ, “young woman”).[1] Cognate with Northern Thai ᨶᩣ᩠ᨦ, Lao ນາງ (nāng), Lü ᦓᦱᧂ (naang), Tai Dam ꪙꪱꪉ, Shan ၼၢင်း (náang), Tai Nüa ᥘᥣᥒᥰ (läang) or ᥢᥣᥒᥰ (näang), Aiton ꩫင် (naṅ), Ahom 𑜃𑜂𑜫 (naṅ), Tày nàng. Cognate via Old Chinese: Old Khmer នាង (nāṅa, nāṅ°), nâ, nõ (“courtesy title for females”), Khmer នាង (niəng), Vietnamese nàng, Burmese နန်း (nan:).

Pronunciation
Orthographic/Phonemicนาง
n ā ŋ
RomanizationPaiboonnaang
Royal Institutenang
(standard) IPA(key)/naːŋ˧/(R)

Noun

นาง • (naang)

  1. (archaic, now only found in compounds) chief; lord; master.
  2. (somewhat archaic, now sometimes derogatory and offensive) woman.
  3. (archaic) woman in authority, as queen, mistress, lady, etc.
  4. used as a title or term of address
    1. (somewhat archaic, now sometimes derogatory and offensive) used as a title for or term of address to any woman.
    2. (archaic) used as a title for or term of address to a woman in authority, as a queen, mistress, or lady.
    3. (archaic, sometimes derogatory and offensive) used as a title for or term of address to a female commoner, subordinate woman, or woman of lower status.
    4. (historical) used as a formal title for the wife of a nobleman ranking below พระยา (prá-yaa).
    5. (law) a legal title which a married woman may use.
    6. similar title for a married woman, as Mrs.
    7. (slang, humorous) used as a title for or term of address to anyone or anything.
  5. heroine; female protagonist; leading lady.
  6. found in compounds, indicating the feminine gender.

Usage notes
  • Under the Thai law, a man is required to use the title เด็กชาย (dèk-chaai) before the 15th year of age, after which the title นาย (naai) is used. A woman is required to use the title เด็กหญิง (dèk-yǐng) if unmarried and still under the 15th year of age or use the tile นางสาว (naang-sǎao) if unmarried and aged over 15 years. Apart from the title in the present entry, a married woman may also use นางสาว (naang-sǎao).

Derived terms

Classifier

นาง • (naang)

  1. (somewhat archaic, now sometimes derogatory and offensive) Classifier for women.
  2. (slang, humorous) Classifier for anyone or anything.

References
  1. Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2014) “Layers of Chinese Loanwords in Proto-Southwestern Tai as Evidence for the Dating of the Spread of Southwestern Tai”, in MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities, volume 20 (special issue), Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, →ISSN, pages 47–68.
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