สีซอให้ควายฟัง

Thai

a man playing a traditional Thai fiddle.

Etymology

From สี (sǐi, “to play”) +‎ ซอ (sɔɔ, “traditional Thai fiddle”) +‎ ให้ (hâi, “to; for”) +‎ ควาย (kwaai, “water buffalo”) +‎ ฟัง (fang, “to hear; to listen”); literally "to play a fiddle for a water buffalo to listen"; calque of Chinese 對牛彈琴／对牛弹琴 (duìniútánqín), "like playing a zither to a cow".

Pronunciation

Orthographic		สีซอให้ควายฟัง s ī z ɒ au h ˆ g w ā y v ạ ŋ
Phonemic		สี-ซอ-ไฮ่-คฺวาย-ฟัง s ī – z ɒ – ai ʔ ˋ – g ̥ w ā y – v ạ ŋ
Romanization	Paiboon	sǐi-sɔɔ-hâi-kwaai-fang
	Royal Institute	si-so-hai-khwai-fang
(standard) IPA^(key)		/siː˩˩˦.sɔː˧.haj˥˩.kʰwaːj˧.faŋ˧/

Verb

สีซอให้ควายฟัง • (sǐi-sɔɔ-hâi-kwaai-fang) (abstract noun การสีซอให้ควายฟัง)

(idiomatic, sometimes offensive) to waste time reasoning with or giving advice, instruction, or explanation to a fool.