เถ้าแก่

Thai

Alternative forms
  • เฒ่าแก่ — obsolete

Etymology

Borrowed from Teochew 頭家／头家 (tao5 gê1).[1] Cognate with Khmer ថៅកែ (thaw kae), Lao ເຖົ້າແກ່ (thao kǣ).

Pronunciation
Orthographicเถ้าแก่
e tʰ ˆ ā æ k ˋ
Phonemic
เท่า-แก่
e d ˋ ā – æ k ˋ
RomanizationPaiboontâo-gɛ̀ɛ
Royal Institutethao-kae
(standard) IPA(key)/tʰaw˥˩.kɛː˨˩/(R)

Noun

เถ้าแก่ • (tâo-gɛ̀ɛ) (classifier คน)

  1. (chiefly used amongst Chinese people) person presiding over a betrothal ceremony.
  2. (used amongst Chinese people) landlord, proprietor; business owner; boss, master; wealthy person; also used as a title for or term of address to such person, and used by such person as a self-reference.
  3. (historical) (นาง~, คุณ~) female official in the inner court of the palace (royal harem), next in rank to ท้าว (táao), responsible for supervising โขลนทวารบาล or for coordinating between the inner court and the outer court.
  4. (historical) (เจ้าจอม~) female official in the inner court of the palace (royal harem) who used to be เจ้าจอม, having the duties to train and educate new female officials in the inner court.

References
  1. Joanna Rose McFarland (2021) “Chapter 3: Language Contact and Lexical Changes in Khmer and Teochew in Cambodia and Beyond”, in Chia, Caroline, Hoogervorst, Tom, editors, Sinophone Southeast Asia: Sinitic Voices across the Southern Seas (Chinese Overseas: History, Literature, and Society; 20 [Open Access])‎, Brill, →ISBN, page 104
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