หมาต๋า

Thai edit

Etymology edit

Probably from Southern Thailand Teochew 馬打马打 (ma tă) and Southern Thailand / Penang Hokkien 馬打马打 (má-tâ, “police”), from Malay mata-mata. Additionally, หมา (mǎa, dog) has negative connotations when used in Thai.

Pronunciation edit

Orthographicหมาต๋า
h m ā t ˇ ā
Phonemic
หฺมา-ต๋า
h ̥ m ā – t ˇ ā
RomanizationPaiboonmǎa-dtǎa
Royal Institutema-ta
(standard) IPA(key)/maː˩˩˦.taː˩˩˦/(R)

Noun edit

หมาต๋า (mǎa-dtǎa)

  1. (colloquial, derogatory) police