Etymology

kathoey

ka·thoey
K5A1T1H4O1E1Y4

Today it means: A feminine or effeminate transgender person or person of a third gender assigned male at birth from Cambodia, Laos, or Thailand. Full definition →

Thai กะเทย ← Khmer ខ្ទើយ ← Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɡɗəəj
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Mon-Khmer · derived from*ɡɗəəj
  2. Khmer · derived fromខ្ទើយ
  3. Thai · borrowed fromกะเทย
  4. English todaykathoey

Borrowed from Thai กะเทย (gà-təəi), from Khmer ខ្ទើយ (khtəəy), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɡɗəəj.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.