Tom yum goong (dtôm-yam-gûng)
ต้มยำกุ้ง
dtôm-yam-gûng
The name, part by part — it reads straight through
| Part | Sound | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| ต้ม | dtôm | boiled or simmered — as the first word of a name it means a soup, and the liquid comes with it |
| ยำ | yam | dressed hot, sour and salty — lime juice, fish sauce and fresh chilli |
| กุ้ง | gûng | prawn |
Two method words stacked, then the protein: it is a soup, and the soup is seasoned the way a ยำ salad is, with prawns in the last slot.
The clearest case on the site of two method words in one name, and it is worth pointing out that ยำ here is not an ingredient but a seasoning instruction carried over from the salad family. What the name does not settle is the version: น้ำใส clear or น้ำข้น creamy, with evaporated milk and chilli paste. กุ้ง is also the word inside the shellfish allergy sentence, ผมแพ้กุ้งครับ — and dried shrimp and กะปิ shrimp paste are invisible in many other dishes.
How Thai dish names are built, in full: Thai food, dish by dish.
The famous hot-sour prawn soup: lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, bird chillies, mushrooms, lime juice, fish sauce, river prawns. Comes clear (น้ำใส) or creamy (น้ำข้น, with evaporated milk and chilli paste).
Spice very-hot Hot AND sour is the identity; a mild tom yum is a different soup.
What is in it River prawns, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, bird's-eye chilli, straw mushrooms, lime, fish sauce, coriander; น้ำข้น adds chilli-in-oil paste and evaporated milk.
Vegetarian and allergies Broth is seafood through and through; vegetarian "tom yum" needs a rebuild from scratch (เห็ด, mushroom versions at เจ shops).
Say it at every level
A1.1 Order it
ต้มยำกุ้งครับ (dtôm-yam-gûng khráp). Decide clear or creamy: น้ำใส (náam sǎi) or น้ำข้น (náam khôn).
A2 Make it yours
Control the burn honestly: เผ็ดน้อย gets you a survivable bowl that still tastes like tom yum. เปรี้ยวๆ (bprîao bprîao, nice and sour) is a legitimate request. Warn a friend: ระวัง ข่ากินไม่ได้ (careful, you do not eat the galangal slices).
B1 Talk about it
The lemongrass-galangal-lime-leaf trio is called สมุนไพร (sà-mǔn-phrai, the herbs) and you push them aside, not eat them; saying ตักเลี่ยงตะไคร้ (ladling around the lemongrass) proves you have eaten this more than once.
C1 to native Own it
ต้มยำกุ้ง is also the Thai name of the 1997 Asian financial crisis (วิกฤตต้มยำกุ้ง, the Tom Yum Goong crisis, it started in Bangkok) and a Tony Jaa film. Order the soup, mention the crisis, and you have made the only trilingual pun the country universally gets.
Hungry for the words too? Ordering food phrases