Thai units of measurement

Thailand adopted the metric system on 17 December 1923.

Before metrication, the traditional system of measurement used in Thailand employed anthropic units. Some of these units are still in use, albeit standardised to SI/metric measurements. When the Royal Thai Survey Department began cadastral survey in 1896, Director R. W. Giblin, F.R.G.S., noted, "It so happens that 40 metres or 4,000 centimetres are equal to one sen," so all cadastral plans are plotted, drawn, and printed to a scale of 1:4,000. The square wa, ngan and rai are still used in measurements of land area.

The baht is still used as a unit of measurement in gold trading. However, one baht of 96.5% gold bullion is defined as 15.16 grams rather than the generic standard of 15 grams. The baht has also become the name of the currency of Thailand, which was originally fixed to the corresponding mass of silver.

List of units

Unit Thai spelling Pronunciation (IPA) Meaning equivalent Relative equivalent Metric equivalent
Length
Krabiat กระเบียด [krā.bìat] Quarter of a finger 0.5208 cm
Nio นิ้ว [níw] Siamese inch
Cf. Digit (unit)
finger (unit)
4 krabiat 2.083 cm
Khuep คืบ [kʰɯ̂ːp] Span 12 nio 25 cm
Sok ศอก [sɔ̀ːk] Cubit 2 khuep 50 cm
Wa วา [wāː] Fathom
(outstretched arms)
4 sok 2 m
Sen เส้น [sên] Cf. Rope (unit)
line of rope
20 wa 40 m
Yot โยชน์ [jôːt] Yojana 400 sen 16 km
Area
Tarang wa ตารางวา [tāː.rāːŋwāː] Square wa 4 m2
Ngan งาน [ŋāːn] 100 tarang wa 400 m2
Rai ไร่ [râj] 4 ngan 1,600 m2 (16 a)
Volume
Yip mue หยิบมือ [jìpmɯ̄ː] Pinch 7.8125 mL
Kam mue กำมือ [kāmmɯ̄ː] Grain held in an enclosed hand 4 yip mue 31.25 mL
Fai mue ฟายมือ [fāːjmɯ̄ː] Grain held in the palm 4 kam mue 125 mL
Thanan ทะนาน [tʰā.nāːn] Coconut shell used for measuring 8 fai mue 1 L
Thang ถัง [tʰǎŋ] Bucket 20 thanan 20 L
Sat สัด [sàt] Measuring basket 25 thanan 25 L
Kwian เกวียน [kwīan] Cartload 100 thang 2 m3
Weight/mass
Salueng สลึง [sā.lɯ̌ŋ] 3.75 g
Baht or
Bat
บาท [bàːt] 4 salueng 15 g
Tamlueng ตำลึง [tām.lɯ̄ŋ] Tael 4 baht 60 g
Chang ชั่ง [t͡ɕʰâŋ] Catty 20 tamlueng 1,200 g
Hap หาบ [hàːp] Picul 50 chang 60 kg

This page was last updated at 2023-12-27 13:12 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari