Farang
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Farang, sometimes pronounced falang, is the generic Thai word for a white foreigner. Africans or African-Americans will be occasionally referred to as farang dam (black farang). While generally farang is a neutral word, it can be used as an insult depending on its context. For instance, the expression "farang ta nam khao" (literally means farang with rice-milk-colored iris) would be considered an insult.
Farang is also the Thai word for the guava fruit, which of course can lead to "farang eating farang" jokes from Thai people when eating a guava in Thailand. Stingy or unruly foreigners can therefore also be referred to as kee nok (bird shit), which is the name of a particular variety of guava. Maan farang are potatoes, hence the similar joke "Farang kin (eat) maan farang". And stranger still, mhak farang is chewing gum.
In the Isan language, the guava is called mak seeda, which can thus also be used to refer to a farang.
The origin of the term is uncertain. One explanation is that it derives from farangset, which is the Thai pronunciation of Français, the French word for 'French' or 'Frenchman'. France was one of the first European nations to establish cultural ties with Thailand, in the 17th century, so to Thais at that time, 'white man' and 'Frenchman' were synonymous. Others say that in Ayutthaya period, land was given to the Portuguese merchants to conduct their business at "Baan Farang" (Guava Village).
See also
Farangi in Farsi (aka Persian) refers to foreigners. In Tamil ( a Dravidian language spoken in southern tip of India) the word Parangiar (presumably because Tamil does not have a letter sounding 'F') refers to the europeans, most specifically the British. Many South Asian languages have this word to denote foreigners.
External links
- Origin of Farang and other similar words denoting 'white' (http://baheyeldin.com/linguistics/thai-word-farang-variations-in-other-languages-arabic-origin.html)