หุง

Explanation

หุง originally describes cooking or preparing something with heat and moisture. In modern everyday Thai, its most important and common use is หุงข้าว, “to cook rice.” Depending on the context, rice may still be understood even when the object is omitted. หม้อหุงข้าว combines หม้อ, “pot or cooking appliance,” with หุงข้าว, “cook rice,” and means “rice cooker.”

Usage

It is commonly used at home or in restaurants when talking about cooking rice, using a rice cooker, or whether the rice is ready. In the expression หุงต้ม, it can refer more broadly to everyday cooking with heat.

Caution

Use ทำอาหาร for “cook” in the general sense. หุง cannot replace verbs for specific methods such as grilling, stir-frying, or boiling. Cooking rice in abundant liquid, as for rice porridge, is also normally expressed with ต้ม rather than หุง.

1 cook (rice) synonyms

• ต้ม

  tôm boil (a liquid)

  ต้ม means to boil or simmer food in water or another liquid. หุง is used mainly for cooking rice until it is ready to eat.

• ทำอาหาร

  tham aahǎan cook

  ทำอาหาร is the general expression for preparing or cooking food by any method. หุง is narrower and usually refers to cooking rice.