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tai

noun

Simple meaning

A branch of the Tai-Kadai language family, including Thai, Lao, Shan.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ty
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtaɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A fish, the Japanese bream.

  2. A branch of the Tai-Kadai language family, including Thai, Lao, Shan, and Zhuang.

  3. A local government area of Rivers State, Nigeria.

  4. A descendant of speakers of a common proto-Tai language, including subpopulations which no longer speak a Tai language.

  5. A diminutive of the male given name David, from Welsh.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

mount taitai chentai yangtai sintai ming

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: fish or the Japanese bream

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.