heart	hua jai
heart, mind, spirit	jai

The Thai for heart is hua jai. That is the physical organ in your chest. Just like in English, the word heart is also associated with a more spiritual level to describe feelings or characteristics. In this case, Thais tend to use jai.

Words that describe emotions or feelings generally end with jai. For example, dee jai is to be happy or pleased. The word dee means 'good'. You can see therefore that, as described in the previous lesson, the word jai is being combined with other words from the Thai language to create the feeling of the emotion described. In this case 'good heart'.

There are literally hundreds of jai words in the Thai language but we will only look at some of the more common examples.

bplairk jai	Wonder / Confuse	bplairk = strange
bplee-an jai	Change Mind	bplee-an = change
bpralaht jai	Surpised	bpralaht = surprise
cheu-a jai	Believe In	cheu-a = believe
chorp jai	Like / Be Pleased	chorp = like
dee jai	Happy / Pleased	dee = good
dtahm jai	Go Along With	dtahm = follow
dtang jai	Intend	dtang = establish
dtem jai	Excited	dtem = full
gamlang jai	Have Will Power	gamlang = strength
gep jai	Hide Feelings	gep = collect
gloom jai	Worried	gloom = worry
greng jai	Considerate / Respectful	greng = fear
hen jai	Sympathise	hen = see
jap jai	Touching	jap = touch
jep jai	Feel Hurt	jep = hurt
jit jai	emotional / mental state	jit = mind
jing jai	Sincere	jing = true
kao jai	Understand	kao = to enter
korp jai	Thankful	korp = thanks
mun jai	Become Sure of a Person	munkong = sturdy / stable
nair jai	Certain	nair = sure
poom jai	Proud	poom = proud
por jai	Satisfied	por = enough
sabai jai	Content	sabai = comfortable
sao jai	Sad	sao = sad
see-a jai	Upset / Broken Hearted	see-a = broken
son jai	Interested	son = interest
tam jai	Accept	tam = do / done
touk jai	To One's Liking	touk = correct/right
wai jai	Trust	wai = keep, store

Words that describe characteristics generally start with with jai:

jai dee	Kind / Generous	dee = good
jai dum	Mean / Nasty	dum = black
jai glah	Brave	glah = bravery
jai hin	Adament	hin = stone
jai kairng	Strong Willed	kairng = hard
jai ngai	Gullible	ngai = easy
jai orn	Compliant	orn = soft
jai raai	Bad / Cruel / Heartless	raai = bad
jai rorn	Impetuous / Hot-headed	rorn = hot
jai soo	Determined	soo = fight
jai yen	Calm / Cool	yen = cool

The full meaning of some of these jai words cannot be conveyed in the simple tables above. Two commonly heard jai words that often cause confusion are:

greng jai

This is a very Thai concept that will not translate to any single English word. It can be used to convey a sense of indebtedness and not wanting to impose any more. Thais will also use it in the sense of feeling the need to repay a favour. It can also be used in a sense of being fearful of causing offence or annoyance.
mun jai

This is a complimentary word. It is used in the case of coming to trust somebody. It indicates that perhaps there was previously a feeling of doubt but that has now passed and you have faith in the subject.