Kham Mueang Vegetable Names: Ba Khuea, Ba Taeng, Ba Hoi

Many Kham Mueang vegetable names begin with ba, just like fruit names: ba khuea (บ่าฯเขิอฯอ, Kham Mueang reading ba khuea) is the eggplant. Leafy vegetables usually begin with phak (ผักฯ, read phak), "vegetable". This article collects the Northern Thai names of fruit-vegetables and pod vegetables from the Moradok Lanna dictionary, with the Lanna script and a real photo of each one.

Why vegetables also begin with ba

In central Thai, many vegetable names begin with ma, such as makhuea (eggplant), mara (bitter gourd) and marum (moringa). Kham Mueang uses ba instead, and also puts ba in front of vegetables that central Thai does not mark with ma: ba taeng (melon, cucumber), ba fak (gourd), ba noi (loofah) and ba thua (beans). Put simply, vegetables eaten for their fruit or pod are usually named with ba.

Fruit names in Kham Mueang use ba too; read more in Kham Mueang Fruit Names.

The ba khuea family

Melons and gourds: ba taeng, ba fak, ba nam

Bitter but good: ba hoi and ba noi

The dictionary says Northerners call every kind of loofah ba noi and the bitter gourd ba hoi, then add a word to name the variety.

Pods and beans: ba thua, ba paep, ba khon kom

Phak: the word for leafy vegetables

Vegetables eaten for their leaves and shoots usually begin with phak. Several have already been explained in other Moradok Lanna articles.

• phak kat (ผักฯกาดฯ): mustard greens, used in Phak Kat Cho
• phak la (ผักฯหลฯะ): cha-om (acacia shoots)
• phak hueat (ผักฯเฮิอฯด): the young leaves of the liap fig tree
• phak pang (ผักฯปังฯ): Malabar spinach
• phak siang da (ผักฯซยฯงดา): phak siang da (gymnema)

Vegetables in songs and Northern food

These names turn up in several Kham Mueang songs that Moradok Lanna has explained. Khong Kin Khon Mueang has sa ba khuea phoi, khua ba thua pu and kaeng ba khon kom, and the rap verses of Kin Lam Kin Lam include pounded eggplant, cucumber sa, bitter-eggplant sa and a bean-and-eggplant salad, which Northerners call tam ba khuea, sa ba taeng sang, sa ba khuea chae and yam ba thua ba khuea.

Summary

• Vegetables eaten for their fruit or pod usually begin with ba in Kham Mueang; leafy vegetables begin with phak.
• Ba khuea som is the tomato, ba khuea phoi the Thai eggplant and ba khwaeng the pea eggplant.
• Ba khuea muen is okra and ba fak kaeo is the pumpkin.
• Every loofah is ba noi, the bitter gourd is ba hoi and moringa pods are ba khon kom.

Look up more vegetable names in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), continue the series with Kham Mueang Fruit Names and Lanna Wild Fruits, or see the whole series at Kham Mueang fruit and vegetable names (in Thai).

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): บ่าเขือ · บ่าเขือส้ม · บ่าห่อย · บ่านอย · บ่าค้อนก้อม
• All vegetable photos are from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each photo.