How to Say “Excuse me” in Thai
ขอโทษ
khɔ̌ɔ-thôot
Excuse me
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
When to use it
ขอโทษ (khɔ̌ɔ-thôot) covers both "excuse me" (to get someone's attention or pass through a crowd) and "sorry" (an apology). ขอ (khɔ̌ɔ) means "to request," โทษ (thôot) means "punishment/fault." For passing through a crowd, the gentler ขอทาง (khɔ̌ɔ-thaang) — "may I have the way" — is also natural.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen ขอโทษ written as: kho thot, khor tote, khaw thot, kho tot.
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 →
Related phrases
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