ฝูงชน

Explanation

ฝูงชน combines ฝูง, meaning a group or flock, with ชน, meaning people. It is an established and normally neutral word for a crowd, although it emphasizes the group as a whole rather than its individual members. It is used in ordinary language but is especially common in news reports and objective descriptions. Frequent combinations include ฝูงชนจำนวนมาก “a large crowd,” ท่ามกลางฝูงชน “amid the crowd,” ควบคุมฝูงชน “control a crowd,” and สลายฝูงชน “disperse a crowd.” Because the word refers to a collective group, individual people are normally counted with คน, as in มีคนประมาณห้าร้อยคน, “There are about five hundred people.”

Usage

It is commonly used for gatherings at festivals, stations, tourist sites, concerts, and sporting events. It also appears frequently in reports about demonstrations, political rallies, accident scenes, and police crowd control. It is most suitable when people are gathered in one place and acting or reacting as a group.

Caution

ฝูงชน does not mean “mob” and does not by itself suggest violence. In casual speech, คนเยอะ is more natural when you simply mean that a place is crowded. It should also not be confused with ประชาชน, which refers to the public or citizens.

1 crowd synonyms

• กลุ่มคน

  กลุ่มคน is a general term for a group of people of any size. ฝูงชน usually suggests a larger gathering in one place, viewed collectively.

• มวลชน

  muan chon the masses

  มวลชน usually means “the masses” in political or social contexts. ฝูงชน focuses on an actual crowd gathered in a particular place.