How to Say “Delicious” in Thai
อร่อย
a-rɔ̀y
Delicious
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
When to use it
The single most useful word at a Thai restaurant. Say it after your first bite and you'll make your host or cook genuinely happy. อร่อยมาก (a-ròy-mâak) means "very delicious." Thais love hearing food praised — it's always the right move.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen อร่อย written as: aroy, aroi, a-roy, aloy, a roi.
There is no single standard for writing Thai in the Roman alphabet — phrasebooks, road signs, and tourist guides each follow a different system, and many just invent their own spellings. The romanization on this page uses a consistent IPA-based system that marks all five tones and distinguishes short from long vowels. The same word always gets the same spelling. Paste any Thai to see it romanized →
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