What is a Butterfly in Thailand?

Last updated: March 27th, 2024 | in Learn Thai | Thai Girls

Thailand Butterfly

If a Thai girl tells you she thinks you are a butterfly don’t worry it’s nothing bad, she just thinks you are a playboy, have sex with a lot of other girls and are unable to have a serious relationship.

“Butterfly” is one of these words Thai people gave a new meaning and just use them when talking to foreigners in English, similar to “boom boom” the common expression for “to have sex”. Thai people never use the Thai translation of these words when talking to each other.

  • Butterfly in Thai = pǐi sʉ̂a (ผีเสื้อ)

So a Thai girl will never tell a Thai guy he is a pǐi sʉ̂a, a butterfly. Of course there is a Thai word for playboy and if you speak Thai with the girl she will use that one instead:

  • Playboy in Thai = kon jâo chúu (คนเจ้าชู้)

Kon is the Thai word for person and jâo chúu the adjective that describes the habit of guys having several girlfriends (what Thai people call giks).

If she talks to you in English she will say butterfly (many Thai people don’t even know that word if their English is bad) and if she talks to you in Thai she would say “kun bpen kon jâo chúu” – “You are a playboy.”

Of course, it’s not just guys that can be playboys. If you see a Thai girl that has a butterfly tattoo you know straight away that she has lots of Farang boyfriends. Most of these girls are hookers.

Good Thai girls generally don’t have tattoos at all and if you see a butterfly tattoo on her sexy shoulder you are warned now. But of course that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun to hang out with her.