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Thai

ใหญ่

Pronunciation

yày

ใหญ่

yày

big

Native recording

Analyzing pitch…

  1. 1 big、large
  2. 2 main、important、high-ranking

A basic word for something that is big relative to a standard. It can describe physical size as well as scale, seriousness, importance, or status.

1

big、large

Adjective⭐️5 Essential

Describes something whose physical size or volume is large relative to a standard.

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2

main、important、high-ranking

Adjective⭐️4 Often used

Marks something as main or important, or a person as high-ranking or influential within a group.

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Learning notes

Explanation

The central idea of ใหญ่ is being big relative to some standard. Beyond physical size, it extends naturally to scale, seriousness, and status, as in บริษัทใหญ่ “large company,” ปัญหาใหญ่ “major problem,” and เจ้านายใหญ่ “top boss.” Like most Thai adjectives, it normally follows the noun it modifies: บ้านใหญ่ means “a big house.” It can also serve directly as the predicate without a linking verb: บ้านนี้ใหญ่ means “This house is big.” Common degree forms include ใหญ่มาก “very big,” ใหญ่กว่า “bigger,” ใหญ่ที่สุด “biggest,” and ใหญ่เกินไป or ใหญ่ไป “too big.”

Usage

It is extremely common in everyday descriptions of houses, rooms, clothing, containers, animals, and other things with a physical size. It is also used for the scale of companies or events, the seriousness of problems, the main status of roads or institutions, and the rank or influence of people.

Caution

ใหญ่ normally describes the state of being big. Use โต for the process of a child, animal, or plant growing. For a loud voice, Thai normally uses เสียงดัง. เสียงใหญ่ is more likely to describe a deep or full-sounding voice. To say that someone is older than another person, use อายุมากกว่า or แก่กว่า rather than ใหญ่กว่า.

Differences from similar words

1 big synonyms

  • โต focuses on growing or becoming bigger, especially for people, animals, and plants. ใหญ่ normally describes the resulting state of being big.

  • ใหญ่โต is more emphatic and can suggest something grand, imposing, or very large. ใหญ่ is neutral and works in a much wider range of everyday size descriptions.

2 main synonyms

  • สำคัญ directly means important without suggesting physical or organizational size. ใหญ่ extends the idea of bigness to importance, rank, or influence.

  • หลัก objectively identifies something as primary or central and commonly modifies words such as cause, purpose, or person in charge. ใหญ่ often adds a sense of greater scale, power, or influence.

Component words

Other words containing ใหญ่

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