The language is often referred to in Thai as phasa Yawi (Thai: ภาษายาวี; IPA: [pʰāːsǎː jāːwīː]), which is a corruption of the Malay name for the modified Arabic alphabet for writing Malay, Jawi (Jawi: جاوي‎; IPA [ɟaˈwi]).

It is also referred to in Thai as phasa Malayu Pattani (Thai: ภาษามลายูปัตตานี; IPA: [pʰāːsǎː mālāːjūː pàttāːnīː]) and similarly locally in Malay as bahasa Melayu Patani (Jawi: بهاس ملايو ڤطاني‎, Rumi: bahasa Melayu Patani, locally [baˈsɔ ˈnːaju ˈtːaniŋ]).

[citation needed] Kelantanese Malay is written both in Latin and in the Jawi alphabet, a writing system based on the Arabic script.

The region was a warehouse of trade where merchants from Europe, India, Arabia, China, Siam, and other parts of the Malay world met.

Islam was introduced by Arab and Indian traders in the 11th century and has been the dominant religion ever since, replacing Buddhism and Hinduism that had held sway.

By the 14th century, the area became vassals to Ayutthaya, but the region was autonomous and never fully incorporated into modern Thai nation-state until 1902.

[citation needed] Kelantan-Pattani Malay can be divided into three major variants and several dialects (and a few subdialects): Kelantan: Coastal (Narathiwat, Besut dialects), Central / River, Dabong / Inland Pattani: Yala, Saiburi, Bana Taning, Chenok / Chana, Nonthaburi / Bangkok Reman: Grik, Sik, Baling, Padang Terap, Batu Kugho / Selama, Southern Yala Creole/Pidgin: Samsam Malay (a mixed language of Thai and Pattani Malay spoken by those of mixed Thai-Malay ancestry) Kelantanese is spoken in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, as well as in Besut and Setiu districts of Terengganu and the Perhentian Islands.

It is also spoken in the Merapoh township, in the Lipis district of Pahang since this town borders the state of Kelantan.

Many people in the districts of Baling, Sik and Padang Terap in Kedah as well as the Hulu Perak district of Perak speak Kelantan-Patani language of Reman dialects, since most of the Malay people there are the descendants of Kelantanese migrants and Pattani refugees (in which whereby these regions were once parts of the Reman Kingdom of Pattani).

The influence of Southern Thai and the Kelantan-Pattani Malay in Pattani upon each other is great, and both have large numbers of loanwords from the other.

[10] Generally, in Kelantan-Pattani Malay, the primary stress falls on the last syllable if the word starts with a single consonant.