ขม
bitter
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- 1 bitter
Describes the bitter taste found in foods, drinks, medicines, and plants.
bitter
Describes something that has a bitter taste, the opposite of sweet.
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กาแฟนี้ขมมาก kaafɛɛ níi khǒm mâak This coffee is very bitter. กาแฟนี้ขมมาก details
Learning notes
Explanation
ขม is the everyday adjective for a bitter taste, commonly used with coffee, medicine, vegetables, and herbs. It follows the noun it modifies, as in กาแฟขม, “bitter coffee.” It can also be the predicate of a sentence, as in กาแฟนี้ขม, “This coffee is bitter.” Common degree expressions include ขมมาก “very bitter,” ขมนิดหน่อย “slightly bitter,” ขมเกินไป “too bitter,” and ไม่ขม “not bitter.” For figurative meanings such as a painful or bitter experience, ขมขื่น is generally more natural and explicit than ขม alone. Some dictionaries also list ขม as a plant or snail name, but learners will usually encounter these in the full forms ผักขม and หอยขม.
Usage
It is commonly used when commenting on food and drinks, stating taste preferences, or describing medicine. It frequently appears with coffee, medicinal products, bitter vegetables, and herbs.
Caution
Do not use ขม for chili heat; that is เผ็ด. An astringent, mouth-drying taste is ฝาด. ขม also does not generally mean “difficult” or “painful” in expressions such as “work is hard.”
Differences from similar words
1 bitter synonyms
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ฝาด describes an astringent, mouth-drying taste, such as that of unripe persimmons or strong tea. ขม describes bitterness, as in coffee or medicine.