ส้ม

Explanation

On its own, ส้ม usually refers to an orange, mandarin, or similar citrus fruit. Specific fruits are identified with names such as ส้มเขียวหวาน “mandarin orange” and ส้มโอ “pomelo.” The usual classifier for individual fruits is ลูก, as in ส้มสองลูก “two oranges.” When counting orange trees, ต้น is used instead. For the color, สีส้ม is the standard form. It follows the noun it modifies, as in เสื้อสีส้ม “an orange shirt.” The word also has an older or restricted sense associated with sourness. In modern Thai, this is mainly encountered in established food names such as แกงส้ม rather than as the ordinary standalone adjective for “sour.”

Usage

It is commonly used when buying citrus fruit at a market or supermarket and when discussing fruit preferences or flavors. In the form สีส้ม, it describes the color of clothes, cars, bags, and other objects. It also appears in familiar Thai dish names such as แกงส้ม and ส้มตำ.

Caution

น้ำส้ม commonly means “orange juice,” but the same element also occurs in words associated with vinegar. น้ำส้มคั้น clearly means freshly squeezed orange juice, while น้ำส้มสายชู means vinegar. To say that something tastes sour in ordinary modern Thai, use เปรี้ยว rather than standalone ส้ม. The ส้ม in ส้มตำ should not be interpreted as referring to the fruit orange.

2 orange-colored synonyms

• สีแสด

  sǐi sɛ̀ɛt vivid orange

  สีแสด often suggests a vivid, reddish shade of orange. สีส้ม is the ordinary, general term for the color orange.

3 sour synonyms

• เปรี้ยว

  prîaw sour

  เปรี้ยว is the standard everyday word for “sour” and can describe foods directly. In this sense, ส้ม is mostly limited to established dish names and certain fixed expressions.