สะระแหน่

Thai

Etymology

Of unknown origin. It has been speculated that the term may derive from a colloquial corruption of a surname Sarani, attributed to an apocryphal Italian said to have introduced peppermint to Siam during the reign of Rama III, known locally as มิสเตอร์ สะระนี (Mister Sarani). However, this explanation appears doubtful, as no such surname is attested in Italian.

Pronunciation

Orthographicสะระแหน่
s a r a æ h n ˋ
Phonemic
สะ-ระ-แหฺน่
s a – r a – æ h ̥ n ˋ
RomanizationPaiboonsà-rá-nɛ̀ɛ
Royal Institutesa-ra-nae
(standard) IPA(key)/sa˨˩.ra˦˥.nɛː˨˩/(R)

Noun

สะระแหน่ • (sà-rá-nɛ̀ɛ)

  1. mint, lemon balm, peppermint

Further reading

  • สะระแหน่” in Thai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.