Etymology

From ว่า ‎(wâa, “to accuse; to blame; to criticise”) +‎ แต่ ‎(dtɛ̀ɛ, “merely; only”) +‎ เขา ‎(kǎo, “a third person pronoun; a third party; another person”) +‎ อิเหนา ‎(ì-nǎo, “the name of a Javanese prince”) +‎ เป็น ‎(bpen, “to be”) +‎ เอง ‎(eeng, “oneself”); literally "I-nǎo criticises others for this but, in the end, he does it himself"; based on the life of Javanese prince Ì-nǎo, who criticised other men for falling in love with and quarrelling over a princess called บุษบา ‎(bùt-sà-baa) (or Kirana) but eventually fell in love with her himself.

Pronunciation