เจ้าฟ้า

Thai

Etymology

From เจ้า (jâao, “chief, lord, master; owner, possessor”) +‎ ฟ้า (fáa, “sky; heaven”). Compare Burmese စော်ဘွား (caubhwa:), Khmer ចៅហ្វា (cawhviə), Lao ເຈົ້າຟ້າ (chao fā).

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) (classifier องค์ or พระองค์)

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 territory, such as ruler of Kengtung.
5. (figurative, sometimes used to prefix เจ้าแผ่นดิน) monarch; royal person.