From Pali senāpati (“army commander”), from senā (“army”) + pati (“commander”); or from Sanskrit सेनापति (senāpati, “army commander”), from सेना (senā, “army”) + पति (pati, “commander”); probably via Old Khmer senāpātī, senāpati, senāpatiy (“general officer; army general”); equivalent to Thai เสนา (sěe-naa) + บดี (bɔɔ-dii). Cognate with Modern Khmer សេនាបតី (seeniəptəy, “army commander”).
| Orthographic | เสนาบดี e s n ā ɓ ɗ ī | |
| Phonemic | เส-นา-บอ-ดี e s – n ā – ɓ ɒ – ɗ ī | |
| Romanization | Paiboon | sěe-naa-bɔɔ-dii |
| Royal Institute | se-na-bo-di | |
| (standard) IPA(key) | /seː˩˩˦.naː˧.bɔː˧.diː˧/(R) | |
เสนาบดี • (sěe-naa-bɔɔ-dii) (classifier คน)