1. Thai. ‘Beautiful’, ‘pretty’,
‘nice’, ‘lovely’, ‘nifty’, ‘fair’, ‘legible’, ‘picturesque’,
‘pleasant’, ‘goodly’, and ‘winsome’. Term used to express ones
appreciation for beauty, with regards, to girls, women, and objects
or places pleasing to the eye in general; for boys and men the term loh (ลออ) or
loh/hlo (หล่อ), i.e. ‘handsome’, is used instead.
Suay has however many synonyms, with the term most frequently used being the
word ngaam/ngahm/ngam (งาม), which is used for both men and women, as well as
for objects and places, and for the latter three often in combination with suay,
i.e. suayngaam (สวยงาม). For beautiful sounds and music
the terms phairo (ไพเราะ), mathura (มธุระ) and manchu (มัญชุ) are typically
used, i.e. ‘melodious’ and ‘sweet-sounding’. Other Thai words for attractive,
pretty, beautiful, lovely, charming, graceful, etc., often with slightly
different nuances and applications, include: sunthorn (สุนทร), wilai (วิไล),
phring (พริ้ง), sophon (โสภณ), sam-ahng (สำอาง), araam (อร่าม), phreutphraew (เพริศแพร้ว),
chalaem (แฉล้ม), ramphai (รำไพ), lamyong (ลำยอง), leut (เลิศ), rom (รมย์),
amphai (อำไพ), phrophring (เพราพริ้ง), phrophreut (เพราเพริศ), phreut (เพริศ),
phreutphraai (เพริศพราย), phreutphring (เพริศพริ้ง), phao (เพา), phao pha-nga (เพาพะงา),
re-khaa/raekha (เรขา), aerom (แอร่ม), Sophaa (โศภา), Sophit (โศภิต), Phaichit/Phaijit
(ไพจิตร), Phairoo (ไพรู), krachot-krachoi (กระชดกระช้อย), krabawon (กระบวร),
truh/troo/true (ตรู), tahwahn (ตาหวาน), praphai (ประไพ), phiram/phirahm/phiraam
(พิราม), philai (พิไล), Foh (ฟ้อ), manoht (มโนชญ์), manohrom (มโนรม), manoh-horo
(มโนหร), yong (ย้อง), rongrong/rongroung (รงรอง), rotchanah/rochana (รจนา),
rotcharek/rocharaek (รจเรข), wilahwan (วิลาวัณย์), wilaat (วิลาส), la-oh (ละออ),
charoentah/jaroentaa (เจริญตา), nuanyai (นวลใย), phringphrao/phringphraw (พริ้งเพรา),
and roopngaam/rupngam/rupngahm (รูปงาม), to name a few. Many of the
aforementioned words also occur as names or nicknames, or in and as part of
names, e.g. sunthorn, as first name of
Sunthorn Phu; sophon as in
Pattaya's
Sophon Cable TV; phiram/phirahm/phiraam as in
Wat Burapha Phiram;
rotchanah/rochana as the name of
Rochana, and so on
