Word.ws English Dictionary

Austro-Tai

UK/ˈɒstɹəʊˌtaɪ/US/ˈɔstɹoʊˌtaɪ/

Austro-Tai proper noun: a proposed language family comprising the Austronesian and Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai families.

Proper noun

Austro-Tai

  1. A proposed language family comprising the Austronesian and Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai families.
    • She thinks the evidence for Austro-Tai is more convincing than for Dene-Yeniseian.
    • Simultaneous membership of Tai-Kadai in Li Fang-kuei's Sino-Tibetan and Benedict's Austro-Tai had posed a problem to Zhengzhang, as he had found both of these mutually exclusive proposals to be well-grounded: Sagart's 1990 suggestion that Chinese and Austronesian are genetically related, soon...2025 February 28, Laurent Sagart, “Zhengzhang Shangfang: 华澳语系同源词根研究 Huáo Aò Yŭ xì Tóng yuán Cígēn Yánjiū (Researches on the cognate roots of the Pan-Sino-Austric family) Shanghai: Jiaoyu Chubanshe...

Adjective

Austro-Tai (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to that language family.
    • The paper contained some newly-proposed Austro-Tai etymons.
    • One striking illustration will suffice here: the writer had not even included IN °kutu, Thai (T) °hraw "head louse"; in his list of possible correspondences, but the KS forms (Sui tu, Mak tau, Then tiu) led him to reconstruct T °[t]hraw, and he was delighted to uncover OB kat "lice"; he was then...1966, Paul K. Benedict, “Austro-Thai”, in Behaviour Science Notes, volume 1, number 4, New Haven: Human Relations Area Files, →DOI, page 230

Forms of Austro-Tai

alternative form (obsolete)Austro-Thai

Origin of Austro-Tai

From the names of the component Austro(nesian) and Tai(-Kadai) families; coined by Paul K. Benedict in 1966, referring to his 1942 proposal of the family.

Questions about Austro-Tai

What does Austro-Tai mean?
Austro-Tai means a proposed language family comprising the Austronesian and Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai families.
What part of speech is Austro-Tai?
Austro-Tai can be a proper noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Austro-Tai?
Austro-Tai is pronounced /ˈɒstɹəʊˌtaɪ/ (UK).

Words near Austro-Tai in the dictionary

  1. Austro-Hungarian
  2. Austro-Hungarian Empire
  3. Austro-Hungarians
  4. Austro-Hungary
  5. Austro-Slavism
  6. Austro-Tai
  7. Austroasiatic
  8. Austroasiaticist
  9. Austroasiaticists
  10. austrocentric
  11. Austrofascism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Austro-Tai (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Austro-Tai.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/austro-tai. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.