Etymology
From Pali jāti (“birth, origin; kind, sort; etc”), from Sanskrit जाति (jāti, “idem”). Cognate with Old Khmer jāti, Modern Khmer ជាតិ (ciət), Lao ຊາດ (sāt).
Developing from "birth" meaning, ชาติ has been used to refer to "group of people" since the late 18th century,[1] while the sense of "national political community" came into use in 1880s.[2]
Noun
ชาติ • (châat)
- (elegant, often in combination) birth; nativity; origin.
- life, especially in terms of reincarnation.
2021 December 15, “ด่วน! ประยุทธ์คุยกับปูขอให้ชาติหน้าเกิดเป็นคน”, in Catdumb, Bangkok: Catdumb, retrieved 2021-12-18:
- ด่วน! ประยุทธ์คุยกับปูขอให้ชาติหน้าเกิดเป็นคน
- dùuan! · bprà-yút kui gàp bpuu kɔ̌ɔ hâi châat nâa gə̀ət bpen kon
- Breaking! Prayut talks to crabs, [saying he] wishes [them] to be born as humans [in their] next lives
- (slang, humorous) very long time; eon; age.
- ต้องรอเป็นชาติ
- dtɔ̂ng rɔɔ bpen châat
- [I] have to wait for eons.
- race; clan.
- (archaic) nationality; citizenship.
- nationals, citizens, or inhabitants collectively.
- nation; country; state.
- nature; character.
- (elegant, often in combination) type; kind; sort; class; group; variety; category.
Synonyms
- (nation; country) See บ้านเมือง (bâan-mʉʉang).
References
Matthew Thomas Reeder (2019) Categorical Kingdoms: Innovations in Ethnic Labeling and Visions of Communal States in Early Modern Siam (Doctoral dissertation), Cornell University, page 184
Eiji Murashima (1988) “The Origin of Modern Official State Ideology in Thailand”, in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, volume 19, number 1, Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History, National University of Singapore, pages 80-96