ยาย

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• yāya (Latin script)
• 𑀬𑀸𑀬 (Brahmi script)
• याय (Devanagari script)
• যায (Bengali script)
• යාය (Sinhalese script)
• ယာယ or ယႃယ (Burmese script)
• ยายะ (Thai script)
• ᨿᩣᨿ (Tai Tham script)
• ຍາຍ or ຍາຍະ or ຢາຢະ (Lao script)
• យាយ (Khmer script)
• 𑄠𑄂𑄠 (Chakma script)

Pronoun

ยาย

1. Thai script form of yāya, which is genitive/dative/ablative/instrumental/locative singular of ยา (yā, “who”)

Thai

Alternative forms

• ยัย (yai)

 

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *naːjᴬ (“maternal grandmother”). The /n-/ -> /j-/ transformation is due to contamination by ย่า (yâa, “paternal grandmother”), which is semantically similar. Compare Indonesian nyai; Khmer យាយ (yiəy); Lao ຍາຍ (nyāi), ຍາຽ (nyāi); Shan ၼၢႆး (náai).

Pronunciation

Orthographic/Phonemic		ยาย y ā y
Romanization	Paiboon	yaai
	Royal Institute	yai
(standard) IPA(key)		/jaːj˧/(R)

Noun

ยาย • (yaai) (classifier คน)

1. maternal grandmother; also used as a title for or term of address to one's maternal grandmother or woman respected as one's maternal grandmother, and used by such person to refer to herself.
2. (sometimes derogatory and offensive) aged woman; also used as a title for or term of address to such person, and used by such person to refer to herself.
3. (colloquial) used as a diminutive or affectionate title for or term of address to a young woman or woman of the same age as the speaker.
4. (often derogatory and offensive) used as a title for or term of address to any woman or trans woman.

Synonyms

maternal grandmother

• อัยกี (ai-yá-gii)
• อัยยิกา

 

Antonyms

• ตา (dtaa)
• ย่า (yâa)

 

Derived terms

• ขรัวยาย
• ขุนนางใช่พ่อแม่ หินแง่ใช่ตายาย
• เท้ายายม่อม
• ปู่ย่าตายาย
• แม่ยาย (mɛ̂ɛ-yaai)
• ยายทวด (yaai-tûuat)
• ยายมด
• ยายหนู
• ลูกเขยตายแม่ยายทำศพ (lûuk-kə̌əi-dtaai-mɛ̂ɛ-yaai-tam-sòp)
• หญ้ายายเภา
• อัฐยายซื้อขนมยาย (àt-yaai-sʉ́ʉ-kà-nǒm-yaai)