แดง

Explanation

Its core meaning is “red.” Thai property words can serve directly as predicates, so หน้าแดง can mean “the face is red” or, depending on context, “to blush.” แดง normally follows the noun it describes, as in เสื้อแดง, “a red shirt.” When naming the color itself, สีแดง, “the color red,” is clearer and more natural. The sense “to be exposed” is colloquial and occurs mainly in established patterns such as เรื่องแดงขึ้นมา, “the matter is exposed.”

Usage

It is used constantly in everyday descriptions of clothing, vehicles, flowers, food, and other red things. It also appears in common descriptions of temporary physical conditions, such as หน้าแดง for a red face or blushing and ตาแดง for red eyes. ไฟแดง, “red traffic light,” is especially common in traffic contexts. In informal conversation about secrets, wrongdoing, or concealed problems, it can mean that the matter has been exposed.

Caution

แดง alone may describe a current red state rather than a change into red. To make the change explicit, use wording such as กลายเป็นสีแดง, “turn red.” Also, เสื้อแดง ordinarily means “red shirt,” but in Thai political contexts it can refer to the Red Shirt movement or its supporters, so interpretation depends on context.

1 red synonyms

• สีแดง

  sǐi dɛɛŋ red

  สีแดง explicitly names the color red. แดง can follow a noun to describe it as red.

2 be exposed synonyms

• เปิดเผย

  pə̀ətphə̌əy reveal

  เปิดเผย is the general word for disclosing or making information public and can be used transitively. แดง colloquially describes a concealed matter being exposed, often unintentionally, in patterns such as เรื่องแดงขึ้นมา.