เหง้า

See also: เหงา

Thai

Alternative forms

(obsolete) เง่า (ngâo)

Etymology

From Proto-Southwestern Tai *ʰŋawᶜ (“central root”), from Old Chinese 藕 (OC *ŋoːʔ, “lotus root”).[1] Cognate with Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨦᩮᩢ᩶ᩣ, Lao ເຫງົ້າ (ngao), Lü ᦄᧁᧉ (ṅgaw²), Shan ငဝ်ႈ (ngāw), Ahom 𑜂𑜧 (ngaw), 𑜂𑜨𑜧 (ngow), or 𑜂𑜧𑜈𑜫 (ngaww); also compare Vietnamese ngó.

Pronunciation

Orthographic		เหง้า e h ŋ ˆ ā
Phonemic		เง่า e ŋ ˋ ā
Romanization	Paiboon	ngâo
	Royal Institute	ngao
(standard) IPA^(key)		/ŋaw˥˩/

Noun

เหง้า • (ngâo)

ancestor, source, heritage.
base or underground portion of a plant stem or tree trunk.

References

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 0859-9920, pages 47–68.

[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 0859-9920, pages 47–68.