Phi
The Thai and Lao word for spirit: ghosts, guardians of land and house, and the powers that are fed at a spirit house.
Also: pii, phii, phi ban, mo phi
Phi is the Tai word for spirits in general. Some are protective, like the phi ban, house spirits, or the guardian of a field or a tree. Others are feared, such as the phi pop, said to feed on the entrails of the living, and the ghosts of the violently dead. Belief in them lives beside Buddhism rather than against it, and most homes and businesses in Thailand keep a spirit house, san phra phum, where food and flowers are placed daily for the land's guardian. In Isan and Laos, a mo phi, spirit doctor, may be called for illness. Accusations against women as phi pop have led to people being driven out of their villages.