Thai people

Lore & Background

Government policies during the late 1930s and early 1940s resulted in the successful forced assimilation of various ethno-linguistic groups into the country's dominant Central Thai language and culture, leading to the term Thai people to come to refer to the population of Thailand overall. This includes other subgroups of the Tai ethno-linguistic group, such as the Northern Thais and the Isan people, as well as non-Southeast Asian and non-Tai groups, the largest of which is that of the Han Chinese, who form a substantial minority ethnic group in Thailand at about 12 to 15%. By endonym, Thai people refer themselves as ( , ), whose term eventually being derived from Proto-Tai meaning free, which emphasise that Thailand has never been a colony in the late modern period. Academically, Thai people are referred to as the Chao Phraya Thais ( , Thai lum chao phraya).

Ethnically, Thai people are called Siamese ( , ) or Thai Siam ( , thai sayam), which refers to the Tai people inhabited in Central and Southern Thailand; Siamese people are subdivided into three groups: Khon Phak Klang ( , lit: Central Thai people) or Khon Tai ( , lit: Southern Thai people) and Khorat Thai ( ). Siamese was also, by historically, the exonym of those people. In Du royaume de Siam, Simon de la Loubère recorded that the people whom he spoke were Tai Noi ( ), which were different from Shan people (or Tai Yai), who lived on the mountainous area of what is now Shan State in Myanmar.

On 24 June 1939, however, Plaek Phibunsongkhram formally renamed the country and its people Thailand and Thai people respectively. Due to the partial success of Thaification, the term Thai people, often creates ambiguity among the various Tai groups in the country, especially the Sino-Thai who also call themselves the same. According to Michel Ferlus, the ethnonyms Thai/Tai (or Thay/Tay) would have evolved from the etymon k(ə)ri: 'human being' through the following chain: kəri: > kəli: > kədi:/kədaj > di:/daj > dajA (Proto-Southwestern Tai) > tʰajA2 (in Siamese and Lao) or > tajA2 (in the other Southwestern and Central Tai languages classified by Li Fangkuei). Michel Ferlus' work is based on some simple rules of phonetic change observable in the Sinosphere and studied for the most part by William H. Baxter (1992).

Reader's Guide

The Thai people are the dominant ethnic group of Thailand, with a rich history rooted in the Tai migrations and the kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Their language belongs to the Kra–Dai family, and Theravada Buddhism is central to their culture. Visitors to Thailand will encounter the Central Thai language and customs, though regional variations exist among Northern Thais, Isan people, and others. The term 'Thai' historically derives from Proto-Tai meaning 'free', and the country was renamed Thailand in 1939.

Did You Know?

• The Nyah Kur people, descendants of the ancient Qiān population, speak an archaic form of Old Mon and live near Si Thep.
• The Qin dynasty founded Guangdong in 214 BC, leading to centuries of Han Chinese migration into the region.