บาท

Borrowed from Pali pāda (“foot”) or Sanskrit पाद (pāda, “foot”); perhaps via Old Khmer pāda, pādda, pada, padda (“foot (as body organ, or as emblematic of sacred persons or things)”). Cognate with Modern Khmer បាទ (baat).

บาท • (bàat)

1. (anatomy, elegant) (classifer ข้าง or คู่) foot.
2. (พระ~) an honorific for or term of address to a god, high priest, or royal person, also applicable to his or her representation, as an image, statue, etc.

• The honorific can also be combined with other honorifics, such as พระบาทสมเด็จ (prá-bàat sǒm-dèt; "divine feet, highness"), which is used for a monarch who has been crowned formally.
• Gods, high priests, and royal persons are referred to by their feet due to an old belief that directly referring to them is impolite. When speaking to these persons, speakers also refer to themselves by various humble terms which indicate that they are under these persons' feet, signifying the persons' higher status, such as ใต้ฝ่าละอองธุลีพระบาท (dtâai-fàa-lá-ɔɔng-tú-lii-prá-bàat), ฝ่าพระบาท (fàa-prá-bàat), etc.

Borrowed from Sanskrit पाद (pāda, “quarter”); perhaps via Old Khmer pāda, pādda, pada, padda (“quarter: unit of currency or measure”). Cognate with Modern Khmer បាទ (baat).

บาท • (bàat)

1. baht: a Thai unit of currency, equal to 4 สลึง (sà-lʉ̌ng). Abbreviation: บ. (bɔɔ.)
2. a Thai unit of poem: line, stanza, verse.
3. a Thai unit of weight, equal to 15 grams.
4. (historical) a Thai unit of time, equal to one tenth of an hour, that is, 6 minutes.

Possibly borrowed from Latin patre, pater (“father”); Portuguese padre (“father”); or Spanish padre (“father”).

บาท • (bàat)

1. (Christianity, now only in combination) priest.

• “บาท” in Thai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.