Glossary
The words you will hear in your first week
Transliteration from Thai is not standardised, so most of these are spelled several ways. Where a spelling varies we have said so rather than picking one and pretending it is the only version.
30 terms
11 terms
Techniques and styles
The strikes you will be taught in the first week, and the four fighting styles Thai gyms sort people into.
Teep
Also written thip
The push kick. A straight kick with the ball or sole of the foot, used to stop someone coming forward and to break their rhythm rather than to hurt them.
Roundhouse kick
Te in Thai, sometimes called the Thai kick
The signature Muay Thai kick, thrown with the shin rather than the foot, turning the hips all the way through so the whole body carries the strike.
Clinch
Chap kho in Thai
Close-range grappling with the arms and neck, used to control an opponent so you can land knees and elbows or throw them off balance. Thai gyms treat it as core, not as an extra.
Elbow
Sok in Thai
A short strike thrown with the point of the elbow, usually from the clinch or off a slip. It is the strike Muay Thai is known for and the one that ends fights by cut rather than by knockout.
Knee
Khao in Thai
A strike with the point of the knee, thrown straight up the middle or driven in from the clinch. It is the scoring weapon Thai judges have traditionally rewarded most.
Check
Lifting the shin to block a kick so the incoming leg hits bone instead of ribs or thigh. Done properly it hurts the person kicking more than the person blocking.
Sweep
Taking an opponent off their feet using their own momentum, usually by catching a kick or turning them out of the clinch. It scores, and it demoralises.
Muay femur
Sometimes written muay femeu
The technical style: a fighter who reads the other person, controls distance and wins on timing rather than volume or power. It is the style Thai crowds respect most.
Muay khao
The knee fighter: someone who closes distance, gets to the clinch and works with knees until the other person breaks. Physically the most demanding style to fight and to fight against.
Muay mat
The puncher: a fighter built around heavy hands and low kicks, closing the gap to land power rather than to control. The style closest to what Western boxing gyms already teach.
Muay bouk
The pressure fighter: constant forward movement, high volume, no interest in a measured exchange. Exciting to watch and hard to sustain past the middle rounds.
9 terms
Gym language
What the parts of a session are called, and what a trainer means when he shouts one of them at you.
Pad work
Also called pads, or holding pads
Rounds worked one-to-one with a trainer holding Thai pads, where you throw combinations and he corrects them as you go. It is the centre of a Thai session and the reason people fly there.
Shadow boxing
Working technique in the air with no partner and no bag, usually as a warm-up. It looks like the least serious part of a session and is where most technical correction actually sticks.
Bag work
Rounds on a heavy bag, usually after pads. It is where you get volume and conditioning, and where you practise the combination the trainer just corrected.
Sparring
Practising against a partner at an agreed intensity. Thai sparring is traditionally light and technical, closer to playing than to fighting, though how well that holds depends on the camp and on who else is training.
Private session
Also called a private, or a one-on-one
A paid session with a trainer to yourself, outside the group timetable. Usually an hour, usually booked directly with the trainer, and usually the fastest way to fix something specific.
Namman muay
Thai boxing liniment or oil
The heating liniment Thai fighters rub into their legs and shoulders before training. It warms the muscle and it is the smell you will associate with every gym you set foot in.
Shin conditioning
The process of getting your shins used to hitting and being hit, which happens through kicking pads and bags over time rather than through any specific drill.
Roadwork
The morning run
The run before the morning session, usually a few kilometres and usually early enough to beat the heat. Thai fighters treat it as non-negotiable; camps rarely force visitors to do it.
Drop-in
Also called a walk-in or a single session
Paying for one session rather than a week or a month. Most camps allow it, and it is the only reliable way to find out what a place is like before committing.
10 terms
Ritual and respect
The customs around the sport. Getting these wrong is the fastest way to be quietly written off at a camp.
Wai kru ram muay
Often shortened to wai kru
The ritual a fighter performs in the ring before a bout, paying respect to their teacher, their camp and the sport. It is danced rather than fought, and it is not decoration.
Mongkhon
Also written mongkol
The braided headband a fighter wears for the wai kru, given by the camp and removed by the trainer before the fight begins. It is treated as sacred.
Prajioud
Also written pra jiad or prajiad
The armbands worn during a fight, historically tied by a family member or trainer. Unlike the mongkhon they stay on for the bout.
Sarama
The fight music
The live music played during a Muay Thai bout, built on a reed instrument, drums and cymbals. It follows the fight, speeding up as the pace lifts.
Kru
Also written khru
Teacher. Used as a title before a trainer name, and the word at the centre of the sport, since the wai kru itself is a bow to the teacher.
Ajarn
Also written arjan or acharn
A senior teacher, a step above kru in seniority and usually applied to the person who runs the camp or who taught the trainers.
Nak muay
A boxer, in the Muay Thai sense. Used for someone who fights, not for everyone who trains. Foreign fighters are often called nak muay farang.
Farang
The everyday Thai word for a Westerner. It is descriptive rather than an insult in normal use, and you will hear it constantly at any camp that takes visitors.
Sanam muay
Boxing stadium
A Muay Thai stadium. They range from the two famous Bangkok venues to a concrete ring under a tin roof at the edge of a provincial town, and both are worth going to.
Wai
The Thai greeting: palms together, a slight bow of the head. At a gym you wai your trainer at the end of a session, and it is the single easiest piece of respect to get right.