ISO 11940:1998

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 11940
First edition
1998-06-01
Information and documentation —
Transliteration of Thai
Information et documentation — Translittération du thaï
Reference number
A
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide
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preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
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(IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are
circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting
a vote.
International Standard ISO 11940 was prepared by Technical Committee
ISO/TC 46, Information and documentation, Subcommittee SC 2, Conver-
sion of written languages.
Annex A forms an integral part of this International Standard. Annexes B
and C are for information only.
©  ISO 1998
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD  ISO ISO 11940:1998(E)
Information and documentation — Transliteration of Thai
1  Scope
1)
This International Standard establishes a system for the transliteration of Thai characters into Roman characters. One set of
rules is provided for a completely reversible stringent conversion where principles of transliteration are applied without
exception.
This Romanized transliteration system is a means of converting the Thai writing system into a Roman alphabet writing system.
Since there are fewer Roman characters than Thai characters, diacritical marks, punctuation marks, and a combination of two
Roman characters, or a digraph, are needed to represent one Thai character. The aim of this system is to provide a means of
international communication of written messages in a form which permits the automatic transmission or reconstitution of these
by men or machines. This system of conversion is intended to provide complete and unambiguous reversibility. It is possible
that the results obtained from this system will not provide for correct pronunciation of the original Thai text. However, they
will serve as a means of finding the Thai graphisms automatically and thus to allow anyone with a knowledge of Thai to
pronounce the Thai text correctly. An attempt to transpose a preposed vowel after an initial consonant may comfort those who
are used to the Roman writing system where a vowel always follows a consonant to form a syllable, unless it is a syllable
without an initial. It is best to leave the preposed vowel in the Thai transliteration system where it is, because a transliteration
system is not a transcription system.
Capital letters are reserved for writing the initial in proper nouns. It is unwise to make use of capital letters in the
transliteration system for certain characters, otherwise common nouns and proper nouns cannot be distinguished from one
another.
This system is based on phonetic logic in the selection of transliterated representations, as much as possible, in order to lessen
the burden on those who wish to learn the system.
2  Normative reference
The following standard contains provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this International
Standard. At the time of publication, the edition indicated was valid. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to
agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent
edition of the standard indicated below. Members of IEC and ISO maintain registers of currently valid International Standards.
ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993, Information Technology — Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS) — Part 1:
Architecture and Basic Multilingual Plane.
3  Definitions
For the purposes of this International Standard, the following definitions apply.
3.1  characters: Alphabetic letters, digits, special markers, and other markers.
3.2  Thai characters: Thai alphabetic letters, Thai digits, and special markers which are divided into the following:

1)  Definitions, explanations for terms used (transliteration, transcription, etc.) appear in annex A.
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3.2.1  Thai alphabetic letters:
3.2.1.1  Consonants:
¡¢ £ ⁄ ¥ ƒ § ¤ ' “ «‹ › fi fl � – † ‡
·�¶ • ‚ „ ” » …‰� ¿ � `´ ˆ ˜ ¯˘
˙¨ � ˚ ¸ � ˝ ˛
3.2.1.2  Vowels
3.2.1.2.1  Vowels written on the same level as consonants:
—� � � Æ � ª � �
3.2.1.2.2  Vowels written above the line (upper level characters):
�� �� � � �
3.2.1.2.3  Vowels written below the line (lower level characters):
�� �
2)
3.2.1.3  Tone Marks and Cancellation Mark written in the uppermost level (uppermost level characters):
ŁØ Œ º �
3.2.2  Thai Digits:
� æ � � �ı� � ł ø
3.2.3  Special Markers:
�ˇ � � œ � ß
3.3  special symbols: Refers to the four symbols used to differentiate one Roman character that represents the same sound
converted from different Thai characters:
3.3.1  macron
3.3.2  macron belowı
3.3.3  dot below
3.3.4  horn �
2)  If a tone mark or a cancellation mark is directly over a consonant without an upper level character, it is adjusted to an upper level in
typesetting and displaying on the computer screen for neatness of appearance.
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ISO
4  Arrangement of character sequence
4.1
The conversion is made character by character from left to right.
4.2  A consonant can have either an upper level or a lower level character and/or an uppermost level character; the sequence
of the characters must be as follows:
4.2.1  A consonant with either an upper level character or an uppermost level character, e.g.
� = „�, or � = „Ø�:
a. Type the consonant first; then
b. Type the upper level character or the uppermost level character.
4.2.2  A consonant with both an upper level character and an uppermost level character, e.g.
� = „Ø�:
a. Type the consonant first; then
b. Type the uppermost level character, and
c. Type the upper level character.
4.2.3  A consonant with a lower level character, e.g.
� = „�:
a. Type the consonant first; then
b. Type the lower level character.
4.2.4  A consonant with an uppermost level character and a lower level character, e.g.
� = „Ł�:
a. Type the consonant first; then
b. Type the uppermost level character, and
c. Type the lower level character.
It must be noted that both an upper level character and a lower level character cannot concurrently appear with the same
consonant.
5  Typing sequence
5.1  If a Roman character contains one special symbol, type the character before the symbol.
5.2  If a Roman character contains two special symbols, type the character first, then the macron, and the dot below or the
horn respectively.
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6  Romanization table
Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
Thai character in romanized characters in
No. Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
1 ¡ 0E01¡006B Ko Kai
2 ¢ 0E02¢006B+0304+0068 Kho Khai
3 £ 0E03£006B+0304+0323+0068 Kho Khuat
4 ⁄ 0E04⁄006B+0068 Kho Khwai
5 ¥ 0E05¥006B+031B+0068 Kho Khon
6 ƒ 0E06ƒ006B+0304+0068 Kho Rakhang
7 § 0E07§006E+0067 Ngo Ngu
8 ¤ 0E08¤0063 Cho Chan
9 ' 0E09'0063+0304+0068 Cho Ching
10 “ 0E0A“0063+0068 Cho Chang
11 « 0E0B«0074 So So
12 ‹ 0E0C‹0063+0323+0068 Cho Choe
13 › 0E0D›0079+0323 Yo Ying
14 fi 0E0Efi0064+0323 Do Chada
15 fl 0E0Ffl0074+0323 To Patak
16 � 0E100074+0304+0323+0068 Tho Than
17 – 0E11–0074+0331+0068 Tho Nangmontho
18 † 0E12†0074+031B+0068 Tho Phuthao
19 ‡ 0E13‡006E+0323 No Nen
20 · 0E14·0064 Do Dek
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Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
No. Thai character in romanized characters in Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
21 � 0E150074 To Tao
22 ¶ 0E16¶0074+0304+0068 Tho Thung
23 • 0E17•0074+0068 Tho Thahan
24 ‚ 0E18‚0074+0323+0068 Tho Thong
25 „ 0E19„006E No Nu
26 ” 0E1A”0062 Bo Baimai
27 » 0E1B»0070 Po Pla
28 … 0E1C…Pho Phung
0070+0304+0068
29 ‰ 0E1D‰0066+0304 Fo Fa
30 � 0E1E0070+0068 Pho Phan
31 ¿ 0E1F¿0066 Fo Fan
32 � 0E200070+0323+0068 Pho Samphao
33 ` 0E21`006D Mo Ma
34 ´ 0E22´0079 Yo Yak
35 ˆ 0E23ˆ0072 Ro Rua
36 ˜ 0E24˜0076 Ru
37 ¯ 0E25¯006C Lo Ling
38 ˘ 0E26˘0142 Lu
39 ˙ 0E27˙0077 Wo Waen
40 ¨ 0E28¨0073+0304+0323 So Sala
41 � 0E290073+0304+031B So Rusi
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Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
No. Thai character in romanized characters in Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
42 ˚ 0E2A˚0073+0304 So Sua
43 ¸ 0E2B¸0068+0304 Ho Hip
44 � 0E2C006C+0323 Lo Chula
45 ˝ 0E2D˝0078 O Ang
46 ˛ 0E2E˛0068+0323 Ho Nokhuk
47 — 0E30A0061 Sara A
48 � 0E31B0061+0323 Mai Han-Akat
49 � 0E32C0061+0304 Sara Aa
50 �� 0E33D00E5 Sara Am
51 � 0E34E0069 Sara I
52 � 0E35F012B Sara Ii
53 � 0E36G0075+0323 Sara Ue
54 � 0E37H0075+0304+0323 Sara Uee
55 � 0E38I0075 Sara U
J56 � 0E39 0075+0304 Sara Uu
57 � 0E40K0065 Sara E
58 Æ 0E41L00E6 Sara Ae
59 � 0E42M006F Sara O
60 ª 0E43N0131 Sara Ai Maimuan
61 � 0E44O0069+0323 Sara Ai Maimalai
62 � 0E45œ0268 Lakkhangyao
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Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
No. Thai character in romanized characters in Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
63 Ł 0E48P0300 Mai Ek
64 Ø 0E49Q0302 Mai Tho
65 Π0E4AR0301 Mai Tri
66 º 0E4BS030C Mai Chattawa
67 � 0E47T0306 “Maitaikhu” shortens
a long vowel syllable,
when a short vowel
symbol — does not
exist.
68 0E4C0312 “Thanthakhat” silences
�
a character or a group
of characters when it
appears above that
character, which may
be the last character of
the group, such as
�  �
�  �.
69 � 0E4600AB “Maiyamok” indicates
a repetition of a word,
a group of words or a
phrase, or sometimes
even a sentence.
70 ˇ 0E2FW01C2 “Paiyannoi” indicates
that the word has been
shortened as in
��. It can
combine with ¯ as
ˇ¯ˇ which is
equivalent to et cetera.
71 0E4EX007E “Yamakkan” is written
�
over the first member
of a consonant cluster
in old texts to indicate
that the two
consonants must be
pronounced as a
consonant cluster.
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Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
No. Thai character in romanized characters in Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
72 � 0E4FY00A7 “Takai” or “Fong-
man” is used at the
beginning of a stanza
in poetry and also the
beginning of a
paragraph in old texts.
�
“Fongman Fannu”
occurs in older texts and
a
can be considered
variant of �.
73 œ -Z01C0 “Angkhandiao” is used
at the end of a
sentence, and at the
end of a stanza in old
texts. It is also used as
a middle symbol in
writing dates in the
lunar calendar, for
example �
meaning Wednesday,
the 15th day (full
moon) of the sixth
lunar month.
(Note: it looks very
similar to ˇ,
“Paiyannoi” in # 70.)
74 � 0E5A01C1 “Angkhankhu” is used to
terminate a paragraph in
old texts. It can also
combine with ß,
“Khomut” in # 75 as
�ߠto terminate a
story.
75 ß 0E5Bæ00BB “Khomut” is written at
the end of a story to
indicate termination in
old texts.
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Code position of Code position(s) of
Thai Romanized
No. Thai character in romanized characters in Comments
character character
ISO/IEC 10646-1 ISO/IEC 10646-1
76 � 0E4D030A “Nikkhahit” is written
above the rightmost
shoulder of a character
to represent an ‘ang’
or ‘an’ sound, such as
� pronounced
[sa&Nkha&N], and above
the rightmost shoulder
of a character and a
vowel to represent an
‘m’ sound, such as
� pronounced
[chumnum].
77 . 0E3A0325 “Phinthu” is written
under a single
consonant to signify a
final consonant or
under the first member
of double consonants
to signify a consonant
cluster in Pali texts.
78 � 0E50 0 0030 Zero
79 æ 0E51 1 0031 One
80 � 0E52 2 0032 Two
81 � 0E53 3 0033 Three
82 � 0E54 4 0034 Four
83 ı 0E55 5 0035 Five
84 � 0E56 6 0036 Six
85 � 0E57 7 0037 Seven
86 ł 0E58 8 0038 Eight
87 ø 0E59 9 0039 Nine
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Annex A
(normative)
Principles of conversion
A.1  Standards on conversion of systems of writing
This International Standard is one of a series of International Standards, dealing with the conversion of systems of writing. The
aim of this International Standard and others in the series is to provide a means for international communication of written
messages in a form which permits the automatic transmission and reconstitution of these by men or machines. The system of
conversion, in this case, must be univocal and entirely reversible.
This means that no consideration should be given to phonetic and aesthetic matters nor to certain national customs : all these
considerations are, indeed, ignored by the machine performing the function.
The adoption of this International Standard for international communication leaves every country free to adopt for its own use
a national standard which may be different, on condition that it be compatible with the International Standard. The system
proposed herein should make this possible and be acceptable to international use if the graphisms it creates are such that they
may be converted automatically into the graphisms used in any strict national system.
This International Standard may be used by anyone who has a clear understanding of the system and is certain that it can be
applied without ambiguity. The result obtained will not give a correct pronunciation of the original text in a person's own
language but it will serve as a means of finding automatically the original graphism and thus allow anyone who has a
knowledge of the original langu
...