In another article, we discussed why it is called ‘Lethwei’ instead of translating it as ‘Myanmar Kickboxing’ or something else. Once it became understood that this sport will be called as it is pronounced in Burmese, another issue arises. How will it be spelled in English?

Nowadays, it is pretty much standardized as “Lethwei”. However, in some cases, you may still encounter some legacy spellings or variations such as Let Whay, Letwhay, Letwei, etc.

Why is it written most commonly as Lethwei? Why are there variants at all?

The answer has less to do with martial arts and more to do with language. Specifically, it comes down to the challenge of representing Burmese words with the Latin alphabet.

The Original Burmese Word

The word “Lethwei” comes from the Burmese word “လက်ဝှေ့”.

It is a compound of two elements:

• လက် (let/lak) meaning “hand” or “arm”
• ဝှေ့ (hwei) meaning “to wave,” “to strike,” or “to spar”

Together, the term refers to punching or hand-fighting and today is commonly used to describe Myanmar’s traditional bareknuckle combat sport.

The difficulty begins when attempting to write this Burmese word using English letters.

The Romanization Problem

English is a language that uses the Latin (Roman) alphabet. When representing foreign languages into English, that process is called Romanization. 

Unlike some languages (such as Japanese), Burmese has never had a single universally adopted Romanization system.

The Burmese pronunciation of လက်ဝှေ့ is approximately represented as /lɛʔʍḛ/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). There have been several proposed Romanizations:

As this table demonstrates, there is no single universally accepted way to write the word using Latin letters. 

Different government agencies, academics, publishers, translators, and organizations have used different methods to convert Burmese script into Latin letters. As a result, many Burmese words appear in multiple English spellings.

The word “လက်ဝှေ့” is no exception.

Depending on the Romanization system being used, it has appeared as:

• Lethwei
• Let-hwei
• Lethwe
• Lakhwe
• Lek Whay
• Let Whay

All of these spellings refer to the same Burmese word. 

In fact, linguistic Romanization systems often produce spellings quite different from the one familiar to martial arts fans. Different systems prioritize different goals. Some systems prioritize preserving the original Burmese spelling, while others prioritize approximating pronunciation.  And because “လက်ဝှေ့” is a two-syllable word formed by combining two separate words, some added a space, some a hyphen, and some did not.

This is why there is no single spelling that everyone agrees is the most linguistically accurate.

So Why Did “Lethwei” Win?

People may assume that an official authority declared that the sport should be spelled Lethwei.

As far as publicly available evidence shows, that does not appear to be the case.

There is no widely recognized government decree, linguistic announcement, or sporting body ruling that officially standardized the spelling.

Instead, Lethwei became the standard through usage.

Over time, fighters, promoters, journalists, organizations, authors, and fans increasingly adopted the spelling Lethwei when writing about the sport in English. Once enough people used it, the spelling became self-reinforcing.

Today, it is the spelling recognized internationally.

In other words, Lethwei is spelled L-E-T-H-W-E-I because that is the spelling that the community collectively settled on, not because an official language authority declared it to be the one correct Romanization.

This process is common throughout language. Many words become standardized not through formal regulation, but because one version eventually becomes more popular than its competitors.

Many People Pronounce It Incorrectly

The spelling “Lethwei” creates a specific pronunciation trap. Many English speakers instinctively pronounce the word by dividing it like this: 

Leth + Wei

This interpretation seems natural to English readers. The letters “th” are commonly treated as a single sound, while “wei” resembles the long, lingering pronunciation found in words like “weigh” or “way.” This combination causes many non-Burmese speakers to blend the syllables incorrectly and stretch the end of the word, pronouncing it like “Leth-weyyyy.”

However, this is not how the original Burmese word is structured or spoken. The word is better understood as: 

Let + Hwei

The separation occurs between the t and the h, not between the h and the w. This reflects the original Burmese components: 

Let (လက်), Hwei (ဝှေ့)

The final ‘t’ in “Let” should be silent, and it belongs to the first syllable.

Regarding the second syllable ‘Hwei’, the beginning of that word should technically be pronounced with a ‘hw’ sound instead of ‘w’ sound. It should sound like ‘whale’, ‘why’, ‘white’ instead of ‘way’, ‘wire’, ‘wall’.

However, the true pronunciation error lies at the tail end of the word.

In Burmese, ‘Hwei’ (ဝှေ့) has a short, abrupt finish.
It does not glide or stretch long. Linguistically, it carries a tone that requires the vowel sound to be cut short by a sudden stop in the throat. For English speakers, the closest mechanical approximation is the sharp cutoff of the sound in the middle of the phrase “uh-oh.” The vowel does not fade; it stops completely.

As a result, someone attempting to approximate the Burmese pronunciation will generally come closer by thinking: 

Instead of Leth-Wayyyyy
Let-Hway (stopping the breath immediately on the “ay”)

No English spelling perfectly captures the original Burmese pronunciation. Yet, understanding where the syllable boundary falls and knowing that the word requires a light, sudden finish helps pronounce more correctly.

Romanization is not an exact science. A spelling can become the accepted standard even if it is not the most precise phonetic representation of the original language.

Lethwei is spelled L-E-T-H-W-E-I because it is the Romanized form that eventually became dominant among fighters, promoters, journalists, organizations, and fans.