The Kingdom of Thailand (IPA: /ˈtaɪlænd/, Thai: ราชอาณาจัภ�รไทย, IPA: [râ�ʧa-ʔa�na�tɕɑ&#x 300;k-tʰɑj]) is a country in Southeast Asia. To its east lie Laos and Cambodia; to its south, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia; and to its west, the Andaman Sea and Myanmar. Its capital and largest city is Bangkok.

The country's official name was Siam (Thai: สยาม; IPA: [saˈjaË�m], RTGS: Sayam origin unknown) until 24 June 1939,Thailand (Siam) History, CSMngt-Thai., when it was changed to Thailand; it was renamed Siam between 1945 and 11 May 1949, after which the name Thailand was once again adopted. The word Thai (ไทย) is not, as commonly believed to be, derived from the word Tai (ไท) meaning "free" in the Thai language; it is, however, the name of an ethnic group from the central plains (the Thai people).^{[citation needed]} A famous Thai scholar argued that Tai (ไท)simply means "people" or "human being" since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word "Tai" was used instead of the usual Thai word "khon" (คน) for people จิตร ภูมิศัà¸�ดิ์ 1976: "ความเป็นมาขอภ‡à¸„ำสยาม ไทย ลาวà¹�ละขอม à¹�ละลัà¸�ษณะทางส ังคม ของชื่อชนชาติ" (Jid Phumisak 1976: "Coming Into Existence for the Siamese Words for Thai, Laotian and Khmer and Societal Characteristics for Nation-names"). With that in mind the locals seemed to have also accepted the alternative meaning and will verbally state that it means "Land of the free". This might be due to language barriers and the avoidance of long difficult explanations.^{[citation needed]}

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