ROMANIZATION SYSTEM FOR KHMER (CAMBODIAN)

BGN/PCGN 1972 System

This system is based on the modified 1959 Service Géographique Khmère (SGK)
system. There are a small number of distinctions between the systems, which are listed at
the end of this system.

While most Cambodian toponyms consist of Khmer lexical items, word division
is not generally indicated, and Khmer diacritical marks are often omitted. Reference
sources should be consulted in cases of uncertainty.

CONSONANT CHARACTERS
and SUBSCRIPT CONSONANT FORMS
When a Khmer graphic cluster contains two consecutive consonants, the second is
generally written below the base character in a special subscript form, sometimes called a
“foot”. Most base consonant characters have a corresponding subscript form. The list
below shows the consonant characters and, in the right-hand columns, the form of each
consonant when it appears as a “foot”.

Consonant Characters Consonant “Feet” Romanization

â series ô series â series ô series
1 ក គ ◌ក ◌គ k

2 ខ ឃ ◌ខ ◌ឃ kh
3 ង ◌ង ng
4 ច ជ ◌ច ◌ជ ch

5 ឆ ឈ ◌ឆ ◌ឈ chh

6 ញ ◌ញ nh

7 ដ ឌ ◌្ដ ◌្ឌ d
8 ឋ ឍ ◌្ឋ ◌ th

9 ថ ធ ◌ថ ◌ធ th

10 ណ ន ◌ ◌ន n

11 ត ទ ◌ ◌ទ t

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 Consonant Characters Consonant “Feet” Romanization
â series ô series â series ô series
12 ប ◌ប b, p3

13 ព ◌ព p
14 ផ ភ ◌ផ ◌ភ ph

15 ម ◌ម m

16 យ ◌យ y
17 រ ◌្រ r
18 ឡ ល ◌្ល l

19 វ ◌្វ v

20 ស ◌ s
21 ហ ◌្ហ h
22 អ ◌្អ ’4

There is no subscript form for the character ឡ, which is romanized l. The

subscript forms ◌្ដ and ◌ធ usually represent the characters ដ (d) and ធ (th), respectively,

rather than ត (t) and ឋ (th): ក្ដី → kdei, កនធយ → kânthéay, but ក ន្ដប់ → kântráb.
[This last example employs 2 subscript characters on a single base consonant
character. In such cases, the base consonant character is romanized first, followed by the
character below the base, and then the character to the side.] Consultation of a reference
source may sometimes be necessary to establish which consonant character is represented
by the subscript form.
The subscript form usually determines the series of the vocalic nucleus that
follows: e.g. ខពង → khpông and ល្អ → l’â. The base consonant character determines the
vocalic series only if the subscript form is a “weak” consonant (either a nasal consonant
character (ង, ញ, ណ, ន, ម → ng, nh, n, n, m) or one of the following consonant

characters យ, រ, ល, វ → y, r, l, v), and the base consonant character is not one of these

‘weak’ consonants: e.g. ថម → thmâ.

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 VOWEL CHARACTERS
The Roman-script vowel letters in the â series columns follow a romanized
syllable-initial consonant letter or consonant letter plus subscript form (represented by ◌)
of that series: ក → kâ, ្រក → kra. The Roman-script vowel letters in the ô series

columns follow a romanized syllable-initial ◌ of that series: គ → kô, ្រគ → kréa. Eight
vowel characters are not differentiated as to series and may, therefore, follow a
romanized syllable-initial ◌ of either series: ែក → kê, ែគ → kê, ែ្រគ → krê. A Khmer ◌

in syllable-final position, not accompanied by a vowel character or by ◌៍, should

generally be romanized without a vowel letter following: កក → kâk, អង្ដ → ’ângk.

Independent Dependent
Characters Characters
Normal Shortened
â series ô series â series ô series

1 ◌ â ô ◌◌់ á ó
2 ◌ា a éa ◌ា ◌់ ◌័◌ ă5 eă, oă5

3 ឥ ĕ ◌ិ ĕ ĭ

4 ឦ ei ◌ី ei i
5 ◌ឹ œ̆ œ̆

6 ◌ឺ œ œ

7 ឧ ŏ, ŭ9 ◌ុ ŏ ŭ
8 ◌ូ o u
9 ◌ួ uŏ uŏ
10 េ◌ aeu eu
11 េ◌ œă œă
12 េ◌ iĕ iĕ
13 េ◌ é é
14 ឯ ê ែ◌ ê ê
15 ឰ ai ៃ◌ ai ey

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 Independent Dependent
Characters Characters
Normal Shortened
â series ô series â series ô series

16 ឱ (ឲ) aô េ◌ aô oŭ

17 ឳ au េ◌ au ŏu

18 ឪ âu
19 ឫ rœ̆

20 ឬ rœ
21 ឭ lœ̆
22 ឮ lœ

VOWEL CHARACTERS WITH ANUSVARA OR VISARGA

â series ô series â series ô series

1 ◌ុ◌ំ om ŭm 5 ◌ុ◌ះ ŏh ŭh
2 ◌ំ âm um 6 ◌ះ éh éh
3 ◌ំ឵ ăm ŏâm 7 ឵ះ◌឵ះ aôh ŏăh
4 ◌ះ ăh eăh 8 ◌ំ឵ង ăng eăng

DIACRITICAL MARKS
1 ◌៊2,3 4 ◌៌6
2 ◌៉2,3 5 ◌៏7

3 ◌់5 6 ◌៍8

NUMERALS

០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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 NOTES

1 The symbol ◌ represents any Khmer consonant character or consonant

character plus “foot”. The symbol → means “is romanized”.
2 The Khmer diacritical mark ◌៊ written above ◌ of the â series, except ប (b,p)

and ប (ba), changes it to the ô series: ហ៊឵ង → héang (see also Note 3). The

diacritical mark ◌៉ written above ◌ of the ô series changes it to the â series

ញ៉ង → nhâng. (These marks are frequently omitted in Khmer writing,
particularly in words of Indic provenance.)
3 The combination ប plus ឵ is written ប → ba. The latter character is a
graphic device designed to prevent confusion with ហ → hâ. The characters

ប and ប with the diacritical mark ◌៉ are romanized as p in the â series, rather

than as b in the ô series: ប៉ង → pâng. The characters ប and ប when

accompanied by a subscript form are also romanized as p in the â series,
although the Khmer diacritical mark is generally omitted: រប្ល
័ ង → plêng, ប្អ →

p’â, ្របប់ → prăb.

4 The â series consonant character អ is romanized by means of an apostrophe

(’): រក្អ
័ ក → k’êk, ចេង្អ ត → châng’iĕt, រអិល → rô’ĕl, អ្វី → ’vei. In word-

initial position before a vowel letter, however, the apostrophe is optional: អ឵ង
→ ’ang or ang.
5 The diacritical mark ◌់ appears only in two combinations: ◌◌់ (example: បត់

→ bát) and ◌ា ◌់.  The diacritical mark ◌័ appears only in the combination

◌័◌. In the â series, both ◌ា ◌់ and ◌័◌ are romanized ă: ច឵ក់ → chăk, ច័ក →
chăk. In the ô series, both are romanized eă when followed by k, ng, or h;
otherwise they are romanized oă: រព឵ក់ → rôpeăk, ម឵ត់ → moăt, វងក ័ →
veăngk, ភ័ព្វ → phoăpv.
6 The combination ◌៌ is romanized rC, where C represents any romanized

Khmer consonant character: ធម៌ → thôrm.

7 The diacritical mark ◌៏ in syllable-initial position should not be romanized: ស៏

→ sâ, ស៏សស → sâsâs. In syllable-final position ◌៏, indicates that the

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 consonant is vowelled, i.e., followed by â in the â series or by ô in the ô series:
តំណ៏ → tâmnâ, ពម៏ → pômô.

8 The diacritical mark ◌៍, which appears above characters that are not

pronounced, should not be romanized: បុណយ៍ → bŏny, េពធិ៍ → poŭthĭ, ភូមិ៍

→ phumĭ.
9 The independent character ឧ is romanized ŏ or ŭ. Consult a reference source
in case of uncertainty.

The BGN/PCGN system differs from that of the 1959 Service Géographique Khmère
(SGK) system in the following respects. In the BGN/PCGN system:

1. The characters ឫ, ឬ, ឭ, ឮ are romanized rœ̆, rœ, lœ̆, lœ, respectively.

2. The graphic cluster ហ្វ is romanized hv.

3. The “foot” ◌្ដ is romanized d or t.

4. The graphic combinations ◌ា ◌់ and ◌័◌ are romanized eă when followed by k, ng,
or h; otherwise, they are romanized oă.
5. The independent character ឧ is romanized ŏ or ŭ.
6. Diacritical marks and numerals have been added.

7. Notes, which are essential to the application of the system, have been provided.