เจ้าฟ้า

Thai

Etymology

From เจ้า (jâao, “lord”) +‎ ฟ้า (fáa, “sky; heaven”); literally "lord of heaven", "celestial lord", etc. Compare Burmese စော်ဘွား (caubhwa:), Khmer ចៅហ្វា (cawhviə), Lao ເຈົ້າຟ້າ (chao fā), Shan ၸဝ်ႈၽႃႉ (tsāo phâ̰a).

Pronunciation

Orthographic		เจ้าฟ้า e t͡ɕ ˆ ā f ˆ ā
Phonemic		จ้าว-ฟ้า t͡ɕ ˆ ā w – f ˆ ā
Romanization	Paiboon	jâao-fáa
	Royal Institute	chao-fa
(standard) IPA(key)		/t͡ɕaːw˥˩.faː˦˥/(R)

Noun

เจ้าฟ้า • (jâao-fáa)

1. (classifier องค์ or พระองค์) royal person
   1. royal person who is a child of a monarch and his or her consort.
   2. royal person whose mother is a daughter or granddaughter of a monarch.
   3. royal person who is a grandchild of a monarch and whose father and mother are เจ้าฟ้า.
   4. ruler of a certain Tai state, as that of the state of Kengtung.
2. used as a title for or term of address to such person.
3. (classifier ตัว) animals named after Sirindhorn, daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej
   1. (กั้ง~) the tiger mantis shrimp (Acanthosquilla derijardi, syn. Acanthosquilla sirindhorn) of the family Nannosquillidae.
   2. (ปู~) the panda crab (Phricotelphusa sirindhorn) of the family Potamidae.
   3. (นก~) white-eyed river martin, the bird Pseudochelidon sirintarae of the family Hirundinidae.

Derived terms

• เจ้าฟ้าเจ้าแผ่นดิน