Word of the Day: คุณภาพ /khun.na ˈphâap/

Word of the Day for Thursday, March 12, 2009:

คุณภาพ /khun.na ˈphâap/ n. quality; adj. quality

Officially, this word is a noun, similar to -ภาพ words like สุขภาพ /sùk.kʰa ˈpʰâap/ "health" and มิตรภาพ /mít.tra ˈpʰâap/ "friendship". Mary Haas' dictionary and the Royal Institute Dictionary only list noun senses.

It clearly has an adjective sense, though. Have a look at the slogan of Matichon (มติชน) newspaper, as seen in the title bar of their website:

หนังสือพิมพ์คุณภาพ เพื่อคุณภาพของประเทศ
/naŋ.sʉ̌ʉ ˈpʰim khun.naˈphâap ˈpʰʉ̂a khun.naˈphâap kʰɔ̌ɔŋ praˈtʰêet/
"A quality newspaper, for the quality of the country."