Is the word “farang” considered an insult?

Farang is a word that refers to people who come from another country, sometimes in an insulting way. In Thailand, locals usually say Farang or – phalang. But is it considered an insult? Let’s find out what it means.

What do the Thais want to say when they call a tourist a farang?

So, Farangs in Thailand refers to the designation of all foreigners who come from another country with white skin color. People with black skin (from the United States, England, or other Western countries) are also not left out, but they are not called anything other than black farang. If you think logically, there is nothing offensive about the word. It is, in fact, a common description of the status of a person who has come to vacation in Thailand.

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Let’s take an example. When the locals say, “This woman’s husband is a farang”. They mean that this man is not Thai and it’s not considered an insult, but if they say: “This man is a total farang!” that’s what counts as an insult. But how Thais treat farangs is a separate topic.

Farang is also the name of a fruit

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Let’s explore further, though. Farang is also the name of the guava fruit here. It’s a play on words. If you eat a guava fruit in front of your Thais friends, they cannot help but laugh at you: “Farang eats farang”.

A whole range of foods imported to Thailand from Europe are referred to by the word farang. The parsley we know well is here called phak chii farang. Translated as farang cilantro

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Where did the word farang come from?

There is no single point of view as to where the word came from. There is a version that it came from the French – farangset. But there is a strong argument against this version: Thais were trading with Western countries even before the first Frenchmen entered the Thai land for the first time.

Another theory has it that the Portuguese are to blame, since they were the ones who first introduced guava to Thailand. They lived in an area called Baan Farang.

The logic goes further: first the Portuguese traders, and then all foreigners.
farangi actually means: foreigner. In a country like India, all foreigners are also called “farangi”. And, of course, it is not difficult to guess how the word has migrated to Thailand.

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By the way, Japanese has its own word that has been given to foreigners, and that word is gaijin. If not an insult, the disdain in that word is clearly there.

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