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Khmer script
The Khmer script (Khmer:
អក្សរខ្មែ រ, Âksâr Khmêr Khmer

[ʔaksɑː kʰmae])[3] is an Cambodian

abugida (alphasyllabary)
script used to write the
Khmer language, the official
language of Cambodia. It is
also used to write Pali in the Âkkhârôkrâm Khmêr ("Khmer alphabet") written in Khmer script
Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia Script type Abugida
and Thailand.
Time c. 611 – present[1]
Khmer is written from left to period
right. Words within the same Direction left-to-right 
sentence or phrase are
Official  Cambodia[2]
generally run together with
script
no spaces between them.
Consonant clusters within a Languages Khmer · Sanskrit · Pali · Jarai
word are "stacked", with the Related scripts
second (and occasionally
third) consonant being Parent Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
systems
written in reduced form
Phoenician alphabet
under the main consonant.
Originally there were 35 Aramaic alphabet
consonant characters, but
modern Khmer uses only 33. Brahmi alphabet
Each character represents a
consonant sound together Tamil-Brahmi
with an inherent vowel, either
Pallava
â or ô; in many cases, in the
absence of another vowel Khmer
mark, the inherent vowel is to
be pronounced after the Child Sukhothai, Khom Thai
consonant. systems
Sister Old Mon, Cham, Kawi, Grantha, Tamil
There are some independent systems
vowel characters, but vowel
sounds are more commonly ISO 15924
represented as dependent ISO 15924 Khmr, 355 , ​Khmer
vowels, additional marks Unicode
accompanying a consonant
character, and indicating Unicode Khmer
alias
what vowel sound is to be
pronounced after that Unicode U+1780–U+17FF (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1780.pdf) Khmer
consonant (or consonant range U+19E0–U+19FF (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U19E0.pdf) Khmer Symbols
cluster). Most dependent
vowels have two different
pronunciations, depending in most cases on the inherent vowel of the consonant to which they are added. There are
also a number of diacritics used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. The script also includes its own
numerals and punctuation marks.

Contents
Origin
Consonants
Variation in pronunciation
Supplementary consonants
Dependent vowels
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Modification by diacritics
Consonants with no dependent vowel
Ligatures
Independent vowels
Diacritics
Dictionary order
Numerals
Spacing and punctuation
Styles
Unicode
See also
Notes
References
External links

Origin
The Khmer script was adapted from the Pallava script, which ultimately descended
from the Tamil-Brahmi script,[4] which was used in southern India and South East
Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD.[5] The oldest dated inscription in Khmer
was found at Angkor Borei District in Takéo Province south of Phnom Penh and
dates from 611.[6] Stelae of the Pre-Angkorean and Angkorean periods, featuring
the Khmer script, have been found throughout the former Khmer Empire, from
the Mekong Delta to what is now southern Laos, Northeast Thailand, and Central
Thailand.[7]
Ancient Khmer script engraved on
stone.
The modern Khmer script differs somewhat from precedent forms seen on the
inscriptions of the ruins of Angkor. The Thai and Lao scripts are descendants of an
older cursive form of the Khmer script, through the Sukhothai script.

Consonants
There are 35 Khmer consonant symbols, although modern Khmer only uses 33,
two having become obsolete. Each consonant has an inherent vowel: â /ɑː/ or ô /
ɔː/; equivalently, each consonant is said to belong to the a-series or o-series. A
consonant's series determines the pronunciation of the dependent vowel symbols
which may be attached to it, and in some positions the sound of the inherent vowel An inscription in Khmer script, at the
is itself pronounced. temple of Lolei

The two series originally represented voiceless and voiced consonants respectively
(and are still referred to as such in Khmer). Sound changes during the Middle Khmer period affected vowels following
voiceless consonants, and these changes were preserved even though the distinctive voicing was lost (see phonation in
Khmer).

Each consonant, with one exception, also has a subscript form. These may also be called "sub-consonants"; the Khmer
phrase is ជើងអក្សរ cheung âksâr, meaning "foot of a letter". Most subscript consonants resemble the corresponding
consonant symbol, but in a smaller and possibly simplified form, although in a few cases there is no obvious
resemblance. Most subscript consonants are written directly below other consonants, although subscript r appears to
the left, while a few others have ascending elements which appear to the right.

Subscripts are used in writing consonant clusters (consonants pronounced consecutively in a word with no vowel
sound between them). Clusters in Khmer normally consist of two consonants, although occasionally in the middle of a
word there will be three. The first consonant in a cluster is written using the main consonant symbol, with the second
(and third, if present) attached to it in subscript form. Subscripts were previously also used to write final consonants;
in modern Khmer this may be done, optionally, in some words ending -ng or -y, such as ឲ្យ aôy ("give").

The consonants and their subscript forms are listed in the following table. Usual phonetic values are given using the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); variations are described below the table. The sound system is described in
detail at Khmer phonology. The spoken name of each consonant letter is its value together with its inherent vowel.
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Transliterations are given using the transcription system of the Geographic Department of the Cambodian Ministry
of Land Management and Urban Planning used by the Cambodian government and the UNGEGN system;[8][9] for
other systems see Romanization of Khmer.

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Subscript
Full value (with inherent vowel) Consonant value
Consonant
form UNGEGN GD IPA UNGEGN/GD IPA

ក ្ក kâ ka [kɑː] k [k]

ខ ្ខ khâ kha [kʰɑː] kh [kʰ]

គ ្គ kô ko [kɔː] k [k]

ឃ ្ឃ khô kho [kʰɔː] kh [kʰ]

ង ្ង ngô ngo [ŋɔː] ng [ŋ]

ច ្ច châ cha [cɑː] ch [c]

ឆ ្ឆ chhâ chha [cʰɑː] chh [cʰ]

ជ ្ជ chô cho [cɔː] ch [c]

ឈ ្ឈ chhô chho [cʰɔː] chh [cʰ]

ញ ្ញ nhô nho [ɲɔː] nh [ɲ]

ដ ្ដ dâ da [ɗɑː] d [ɗ]

ឋ ្ឋ thâ tha [tʰɑː] th [tʰ]

ឌ ្ឌ dô do [ɗɔː] d [ɗ]

ឍ ្ឍ thô tho [tʰɔː] th [tʰ]

ណ ្ណ nâ na [nɑː] n [n]

ត ្ត tâ ta [tɑː] t [t]

ថ ្ថ thâ tha [tʰɑː] th [tʰ]

ទ ្ទ tô to [tɔː] t [t]

ធ ្ធ thô tho [tʰɔː] th [tʰ]

ន ្ន nô no [nɔː] n [n]

ប ្ប bâ ba [ɓɑː] b, p [ɓ], [p]

ផ ្ផ phâ pha [pʰɑː] ph [pʰ]

ព ្ព pô po [pɔː] p [p]

ភ ្ភ phô pho [pʰɔː] ph [pʰ]

ម ្ម mô mo [mɔː] m [m]

យ ្យ yô yo [jɔː] y [j]

រ ្រ rô ro [rɔː] r [r]

ល ្ល lô lo [lɔː] l [l]

វ ្វ vô vo [ʋɔː] v [ʋ]

Obsolete; historically used for palatal s

ឝ ្ឝ Used only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration[10]

Obsolete; historically used for retroflex s

ឞ ្ឞ Used only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration[10]

ស ្ស sâ sa [sɑː] s [s]

ហ ្ហ hâ ha [hɑː] h [h]

ឡ none[11] lâ la [lɑː] l [l]

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អ ្អ ’â ’a [ʔɑː] ’ [ʔ]

The letter bâ appears in somewhat modified form (e.g. បា) when combined with certain dependent vowels (see
Ligatures).

The letter ញ nhô is written without the lower curve when a subscript is added. When it is subscripted to itself, the
subscript is a smaller form of the entire letter: ញ្ញ -nhnh-.

Note that ដ dâ and ត tâ have the same subscript form. In initial clusters this subscript is always pronounced [d], but
in medial positions it is [d] in some words and [t] in others.

The series ដ dâ, ឋ thâ, ឌ dô, ឍ thô, ណ nâ originally represented retroflex consonants in the Indic parent scripts. The
second, third and fourth of these are rare, and occur only for etymological reasons in a few Pali and Sanskrit
loanwords. Because the sound /n/ is common, and often grammatically productive, in Mon-Khmer languages, the
fifth of this group, ណ, was adapted as an a-series counterpart of ន nô for convenience (all other nasal consonants are
o-series).

Variation in pronunciation

The aspirated consonant letters (kh-, chh-, th-, ph-) are pronounced with aspiration only before a vowel. There is also
slight aspiration with k, ch, t and p sounds before certain consonants, but this is regardless of whether they are spelt
with a letter that indicates aspiration.

A Khmer word cannot end with more than one consonant sound, so subscript consonants at the end of words (which
appear for etymological reasons) are not pronounced, although they may come to be pronounced when the same word
begins a compound.

In some words, a single medial consonant symbol represents both the final consonant of one syllable and the initial
consonant of the next.

The letter ប bâ represents [ɓ] only before a vowel. When final or followed by a subscript consonant, it is pronounced
[p] (and in the case where it is followed by a subscript consonant, it is also romanized as p in the UN system). For
modification to p by means of a diacritic, see Supplementary consonants. The letter, which represented /p/ in Indic
scripts, also often maintains the [p] sound in certain words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali.

The letters ដ dâ and ឌ dô are pronounced [t] when final. The letter ត tâ is pronounced [ɗ] in initial position in a weak
syllable ending with a nasal.

In final position, letters representing a [k] sound (k-, kh-) are pronounced as a glottal stop [ʔ] after the vowels [ɑː],
[aː], [iə], [ɨə], [uə], [ɑ], [a], [ĕə], [ŭə]. The letter រ rô is silent when final (in most dialects; see Northern Khmer). The
letter ស sâ when final is pronounced /h/ (which in this position approaches [ç]).

Supplementary consonants

The Khmer writing system includes supplementary consonants, used in certain loanwords, particularly from French
and Thai. These mostly represent sounds which do not occur in native words, or for which the native letters are
restricted to one of the two vowel series. Most of them are digraphs, formed by stacking a subscript under the letter ហ
hâ, with an additional treisăpt diacritic if required to change the inherent vowel to ô. The character for pâ, however, is
formed by placing the musĕkâtônd ("mouse teeth") diacritic over the character ប bâ.

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Full value (with inherent

Consonant value
Supplementary vowel)
Description Notes
consonant Geographic Geographic
UNGEGN IPA UNGEGN IPA
Department Department

Example: ហ្គា ស [ɡaːh] ('gas'; from

ហ្គ hâ + kô hkâ hka [ɡɑː] hk hk [ɡ]
French, gaz)

hâ + kô + Example: ហ្គ៊ា រ [giə] ('train station';

ហ្គ៊ diacritic
hkô hko [ɡɔː] hk hk [ɡ]
from French, gare)

Example: ហ្នាំង/ហ្ន័ង [naŋ] ('shadow

ហ្ន hâ + nô hnâ hna [nɑː] hn hn [n]
play' from Thai, หนัง)

Example: ប៉ា ក់ [pak] ('to

bâ +
ប៉ diacritic
pâ pa [pɑː] p p [p] embroider'), ប៉័ង [paŋ] ('bread'; from
French, pain)

Example: គ្រូហ្ម kru hmâ [kruː mɑː]

ហ្ម hâ + mô hmâ hma [mɑː] hm hm [m]
('shaman'; from Thai, หมอ)

Example: ហ្លួង hluŏng [luəŋ] ('king';

ហ្ល hâ + lô hlâ hla [lɑː] hl hl [l]
from Thai, หลวง)

Pronounced [ʋ] in ហ្វ ង់ hváng [ʋɑŋ]

[fɑː], [f],
ហ្វ hâ + vô hvâ hva
[ʋɑː]
hv hv
[ʋ] ('clear'), [f] in កាហ្វេ kahvé [kaːfeː]
('coffee'; from French, café)

hâ + vô + [fɔː], [f], Example: ហ្វ៊ីល hvil [fiːl] ('film'; from

ហ្វ៊ diacritic
hvô hvo
[ʋɔː]
hv hv
[ʋ] French, film)

Example: ហ្សាស hsas [ʒaːh] ('jazz';

[ʒɑː], [ʒ],
ហ្ស hâ + sâ hsâ hsa
[zɑː]
hs hs
[z] from French, jazz), ភីហ្សា phihsa
[pʰiːzaː] ('pizza')

Example: ហ្ស៊ីប hsib [ʒiːp] ('jeep';

hâ + sâ + [ʒɔː], [ʒ], from French, jeep), ហ្សឺណេវ hsœnév
ហ្ស៊ diacritic
hsô hso
[zɔː]
hs hs
[z] [zəːneːw] ('Geneva'; from French,
Genève)

Dependent vowels
Most Khmer vowel sounds are written using dependent, or diacritical, vowel symbols, known in Khmer as ស្រៈនិស្ស័យ
srăk nĭssăy or ស្រៈផ្សំ srăk phsâm ("connecting vowel"). These can only be written in combination with a consonant (or
consonant cluster). The vowel is pronounced after the consonant (or cluster), even though some of the symbols have
graphical elements which appear above, below or to the left of the consonant character.

Most of the vowel symbols have two possible pronunciations, depending on the inherent vowel of the consonant to
which it is added. Their pronunciations may also be different in weak syllables, and when they are shortened (e.g. by
means of a diacritic). Absence of a dependent vowel (or diacritic) often implies that a syllable-initial consonant is
followed by the sound of its inherent vowel.

In determining the inherent vowel of a consonant cluster (i.e. how a following dependent vowel will be pronounced),
stops and fricatives are dominant over sonorants. For any consonant cluster including a combination of these sounds,
a following dependent vowel is pronounced according to the dominant consonant, regardless of its position in the
cluster. When both members of a cluster are dominant, the subscript consonant determines the pronunciation of a
following dependent vowel.

A non-dominant consonant (and in some words also ហ hâ) will also have its inherent vowel changed by a preceding
dominant consonant in the same word, even when there is a vowel between them, although some words (especially
among those with more than two syllables) do not obey this rule.

The dependent vowels are listed below, in conventional form with a dotted circle as a dummy consonant symbol, and
in combination with the a-series letter អ ’â. The IPA values given are representative of dialects from the northwest
and central plains regions, specifically from the Battambang area, upon which Standard Khmer is based. Vowel
pronunciation varies widely in other dialects such as Northern Khmer, where diphthongs are leveled, and Western
Khmer, in which breathy voice and modal voice phonations are still contrastive.

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IPA[3] GD UNGEGN
Dependent

Example Notes
vowel a- o- a- o- a- o-
series series series series series series
See Modification by diacritics and Consonants with no
(none) អ [ɑː] [ɔː] a o â ô
dependent vowel.
See Modification by diacritics.

ា អា [aː] [iːə][12] a ea a éa អ៊ា , the o-series of ា, is slightly distinct from

ៀ.
(អ៊ា ~ "air" vs ៀ ~ "ear")

Pronounced [e]/[i] in syllables with no written final

consonant (a glottal stop is then added if the syllable
is stressed; however in some words the vowel is silent
ិ អិ [ə], [e] [ɨ], [i] e i ĕ ĭ when final, and in some words in which it is not word-
final it is pronounced [əj]). In the o-series, combines
with final យ yô to sound [iː]. (See also Modification by
diacritics.)

ី អី [əj] [iː] ei i ei i

ឹ អឹ [ə] [ɨ] oe ue œ̆

ឺ អឺ [əɨ] [ɨː] eu ueu œ

See Modification by diacritics. In a stressed syllable

with no written final consonant, the vowel is followed
ុ អុ [o] [u] o u ŏ ŭ by a glottal stop [ʔ], or by [k] in the word តុ tŏk
("table") (but the vowel is silent when final in certain
words).

ូ អូ [ou] [uː] ou u o u Becomes [əw]/[ɨw] before a final វ vô.

ួ អួ [uə] uo uŏ

ើ អើ [aə] [əː] aeu eu aeu eu See Modification by diacritics.

ឿ អឿ [ɨə] oea œă

ៀ អៀ [iə] ie iĕ

Becomes [ə]/[ɨ] before palatals (or in the a-series, [a]

េ អេ [ei] [eː] e é before [c] in some words). Pronounced [ae]/[ɛː] in
some words. See also Modification by diacritics.

ែ អែ [ae] [ɛː] ae eae ê See Modification by diacritics.

ៃ អៃ [aj] [ɨj] ai ey ai ey

ោ អោ [ao] [oː] ao ou aô oŭ See Modification by diacritics.

ៅ អៅ [aw] [ɨw] au ov au ŏu

The spoken name of each dependent vowel consists of the word ស្រៈ srăk [sraʔ]("vowel") followed by the vowel's a-
series value preceded by a glottal stop (and also followed by a glottal stop in the case of short vowels).

Modification by diacritics

The addition of some of the Khmer diacritics can modify the length and value of inherent or dependent vowels.

The following table shows combinations with the nĭkkôhĕt and reăhmŭkh diacritics, representing final [m] and [h].
They are shown with the a-series consonant អ ’â.

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IPA GD UNGEGN
Combination a- o- a- o- a- o- Notes
series series series series series series

អុំ [om] [um] om um om ŭm

The word ធំ thum ("big") is pronounced [tʰom] (but [tʰum] in

អំ [ɑm] [um] am um âm um
some dialects).

អាំ [am] [ŏəm] am oam ăm ŏâm When followed by ង ngô, becomes [aŋ]/[eəŋ] ăng/eăng.

អះ [ah] [ĕəh] ah eah ăh eăh

អិះ [eh] [ih] eh is ĕh ĭh

អុះ [oh] [uh] oh uh ŏh ŭh

អេះ [eh] [ih] eh éh

អោះ [ɑh] [ŭəh] aoh uoh aôh ŏăh The word នោះ nŏăh ("that") is pronounced [nuh].

The first four configurations listed here are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, and have names
constructed in the same way as for the other dependent vowels (described in the previous section).

Other rarer configurations with the reăhmŭkh are អើះ (or អឹះ), pronounced [əh], and អែះ, pronounced [eh]. The word
ចា៎ះ "yes" (used by women) is pronounced [caː] and rarely [caːh].

The bânták (a small vertical line written over the final consonant of a syllable) has the following effects:

in a syllable with inherent â, the vowel is shortened to [ɑ], UN transcription á

in a syllable with inherent ô, the vowel is modified to [u] before a final labial, otherwise usually to [ŏə]; UN
transcription ó
in a syllable with the a dependent vowel symbol ( ) in the a-series, the vowel is shortened to [a], UN
transcription ă
in a syllable with that vowel symbol in the o-series, the vowel is modified to [ŏə], UN transcription oă, or to [ĕə] eă
before k, ng, h

The sanhyoŭk sannha is equivalent to the a dependent vowel with the bântăk. However, its o-series pronunciation
becomes [ɨ] before final y, and [ɔə] before final (silent) r.

The yŭkôlpĭntŭ (pair of dots) represents [a] (a-series) or [ĕə] (o-series), followed by a glottal stop.

Consonants with no dependent vowel

There are three environments where a consonant may appear without a dependent vowel. The rules governing the
inherent vowel differ for all three environments. Consonants may be written with no dependent vowel as an initial
consonant of a weak syllable, an initial consonant of a strong syllable or as the final letter of a written word.

In careful speech, initial consonants without a dependent vowel in weak initial syllables are pronounced with their
inherent vowel shortened as if modified by the bânták diacritic (see previous section). For example the first-series
letter "ច" in "ចន្លុះ" ("torch") is pronounced with the short vowel /ɑ/. The second-series letter "ព" in "ពន្លឺ" ("light") is
pronounced with the short diphthong /ŏə/. In casual speech, these are most often reduced to /ə/ for both series.

Initial consonants in strong syllables without written vowels are pronounced with their inherent vowels. The word ចង
("to tie") is pronounced [cɑːŋ], ជត ("weak", "to sink") is pronounced [cɔːt]. In some words, however, the inherent
vowel is pronounced in its reduced form, as if modified by a bântăk diacritic, even though the diacritic is not written
(e.g. សព [sɑp] "corpse"). Such reduction regularly takes place in words ending with a consonant with a silent
subscript (such as សព្វ [sɑp] "every"), although in most such words it is the bânták-reduced form of the vowel a that is
heard, as in សព្ទ [sap] "noise". The word អ្ន ក "you, person" has the highly irregular pronunciation [nĕəʔ].

Consonants written as the final letter of a word usually represent a word-final sound and are pronounced without any
following vowel and, in the case of stops, with no audible release as in the examples above. However, in some words
adopted from Pali and Sanskrit, what would appear to be a final consonant under normal rules can actually be the
initial consonant of a following syllable and pronounced with a short vowel as if followed by ាក់. For example,
according to rules for native Khmer words, សុភ ("good", "clean", "beautiful") would appear to be a single syllable, but,
being derived from Pali subha, it is pronounced [sopʰĕəʔ].

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Ligatures

Most consonants, including a few of the subscripts, form ligatures with the vowel a (ា) and with all other dependent
vowels that contain the same cane-like symbol. Most of these ligatures are easily recognizable, but a few may not be,
particularly those involving the letter ប bâ. This combines with the a vowel in the form បា, created to differentiate it
from the consonant symbol ហ hâ and also from the ligature for ច châ with a (ចា).

Some more examples of ligatured symbols follow:

បៅ bau [ɓaw] Another example with ប bâ, forming a similar ligature to that described above. Here the vowel is
not a itself, but another vowel (au) which contains the cane-like stroke of that vowel as a graphical element.

លា léa [liə] An example of the vowel a forming a connection with the serif of a consonant.

ផ្បា phba [pʰɓaː] Subscript consonants with ascending strokes above the baseline also form ligatures with the a
vowel symbol.

ម្សៅ msau [msaw] Another example of a subscript consonant forming a ligature, this time with the vowel au.

ត្រា tra [traː] The subscript for រ rô is written to the left of the main consonant, in this case ត tâ, which here forms
a ligature with a.

Independent vowels
Independent vowels are non-diacritical vowel characters that stand alone (i.e. without being attached to a consonant
symbol). In Khmer they are called ស្រៈពេញតួ sră pénh tuŏ, which means "complete vowels". They are used in some
words to represent certain combinations of a vowel with an initial glottal stop or liquid. The independent vowels are
used in a small number of words, mostly of Indic origin, and consequently there is some inconsistency in their use and
pronunciations.[3] However, a few words in which they occur are used quite frequently; these include: ឥឡូ វ ĕlov
[ʔəjləw] "now", ឪពុក âupŭk [ʔəwpuk] "father", ឬ rœ [rɨː] "or", ឮ lœ [lɨː] "hear", ឲ្យ aôy [ʔaoj] "give, let", ឯង êng
[ʔaeŋ] "oneself, I, you", ឯណា ê na [ʔae naː] "where".

Independent

IPA GD UNGEGN
vowel

ឥ [ʔə], [ʔɨ], [ʔəj] e ĕ

ឦ [ʔəj] ei ei

ឧ [ʔo], [ʔu], [ʔao] o ŏ, ŭ

ឨ Obsolete (equivalent to the sequence ឧក)[13]

ឩ [ʔou], [ʔuː] ou not given

ឪ [ʔəw] au âu

ឫ [rɨ] rue rœ̆

ឬ [rɨː] rueu rœ

ឭ [lɨ] lue lœ̆

ឮ [lɨː] lueu lœ

ឯ [ʔae], [ʔɛː], [ʔeː] ae ê

ឰ [ʔaj] ai ai

ឱ, ឲ [ʔao] ao aô

ឳ [ʔaw] au au

Independent vowel letters are named similarly to the dependent vowels, with the word ស្រៈ sră [sraʔ] ("vowel")
followed by the principal sound of the letter (the pronunciation or first of the pronunciations listed above), followed
by an additional glottal stop after a short vowel. However the letter ឥ is called ស្រៈឥ sră ĕ [sraʔ ʔeʔ].[14]

Diacritics
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The Khmer writing system contains several diacritics (វណ្ណ យុត្តិ, vônnâyŭttĕ, pronounced [ʋannajut]), used to indicate
further modifications in pronunciation.

Khmer
Diacritic Function
name
The Pali niggahīta, related to the anusvara. A small circle written over a consonant or a following dependent
និគ្គ ហិត
ំ nĭkkôhĕt
vowel, it nasalizes the inherent or dependent vowel, with the addition of [m]; long vowels are also shortened.
For details see Modification by diacritics.

រះមុខ Related to the visarga. A pair of small circles written after a consonant or a following dependent vowel, it
reăhmŭkh

ះ "shining
modifies and adds final aspiration /h/ to the inherent or dependent vowel. For details see Modification by
diacritics.
face"

យុគលពិន្ទុ A "pair of dots", a fairly recently introduced diacritic, written after a consonant to indicate that it is to be followed
ៈ yŭkôlôpĭntŭ by a short vowel and a glottal stop. See Modification by diacritics.

មូ សិកទន្ត
musĕkâtônd
Two short vertical lines, written above a consonant, used to convert some o-series consonants (ង ញ ម យ រ វ)
៉ "mouse to a-series. It is also used with ប bâ to convert it to a p sound (see Supplementary consonants).
teeth"

ត្រីស័ព្ទ
៊ treisăpt
A wavy line, written above a consonant, used to convert some a-series consonants (ស ហ ប អ) to o-series.

ក្បៀសក្រោម Also known as បុកជើង bŏk cheung ("collision foot"); a vertical line written under a consonant, used in place of
ុ kbiĕs kraôm the diacritics treisăpt and musĕkâtônd when they would be impeded by superscript vowels.

បន្ត ក់ A small vertical line written over the last consonant of a syllable, indicating shortening (and corresponding
់ bânták change in quality) of certain vowels. See Modification by diacritics.

This superscript diacritic occurs in Sanskrit loanwords and corresponds to the Devanagari diacritic repha. It
របាទ rôbat
originally represented an r sound (and is romanized as r in the UNGEGN system). Now, in most cases, the
៌ consonant above which it appears, and the diacritic itself, are unpronounced. Examples: ធម៌ thôrm [tʰɔə]
រេផៈ réphă
("dharma"), កាណ៌ karn [kaː] (from karṇa), សួ គ៌ា suŏrkéa [suəkiə] ("Svarga").

ទណ្ឌ ឃាដ Written over a final consonant to indicate that it is unpronounced. (Such unpronounced letters are still
៍ tôndôkhéad romanized in the UNGEGN system.)

កាកបាទ Also known as a "crow's foot", used in writing to indicate the rising intonation of an exclamation or interjection;
៎ kakâbat often placed on particles such as /na/, /nɑː/, /nɛː/, /ʋəːj/, and on ចា៎ះ /caːh/, a word for "yes" used by females.

អស្តា âsda
Used in a few words to show that a consonant with no dependent vowel is to be pronounced with its inherent
៏ "number vowel, rather than as a final consonant.
eight"

សំយោគសញ្ញា Used in some Sanskrit and Pali loanwords (although alternative spellings usually exist); it is written above a
័ sâmyoŭk consonant to indicate that the syllable contains a particular short vowel; see Modification by diacritics.
sânhnhéa

៑ វិរាម vĭréam A mostly obsolete diacritic, corresponding to the virāma, which suppresses a consonant's inherent vowel.

Dictionary order
For the purpose of dictionary ordering[15] of words, main consonants, subscript consonants and dependent vowels are
all significant; and when they appear in combination, they are considered in the order in which they would be spoken
(main consonant, subscript, vowel). The order of the consonants and of the dependent vowels is the order in which
they appear in the above tables. A syllable written without any dependent vowel is treated as if it contained a vowel
character that precedes all the visible dependent vowels.

As mentioned above, the four configurations with diacritics exemplified in the syllables អុំ អំ អាំ អះ are treated as
dependent vowels in their own right, and come in that order at the end of the list of dependent vowels. Other
configurations with the reăhmŭkh diacritic are ordered as if that diacritic were a final consonant coming after all
other consonants. Words with the bânták and sâmyoŭk sânhnhéa diacritics are ordered directly after identically
spelled words without the diacritics.

Vowels precede consonants in the ordering, so a combination of main and subscript consonants comes after any
instance in which the same main consonant appears unsubscripted before a vowel.

Words spelled with an independent vowel whose sound begins with a glottal stop follow after words spelled with the
equivalent combination of អ ’â plus dependent vowel. Words spelled with an independent vowel whose sound begins
[r] or [l] follow after all words beginning with the consonants រ rô and ល lô respectively.

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Words spelled with a consonant modified by a diacritic follow words spelled with the same consonant and dependent
vowel symbol but without the diacritic. However, words spelled with ប៉ (a bâ converted to a p sound by a diacritic)
follow all words with unmodified ប bâ (without diacritic and without subscript). Sometimes words in which ប is
pronounced p are ordered as if the letter were written ប៉.

Numerals
The numerals of the Khmer script, similar to that used by other civilizations in Southeast Asia, are also derived from
the southern Indian script. Western-style Arabic numerals are also used, but to a lesser extent.

Khmer numerals ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩
Arabic numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

In large numbers, groups of three digits are delimited with Western-style periods. The decimal point is represented by
a comma. The Cambodian currency, the riel, is abbreviated using the symbol ៛ or simply the letter រ rô.

Spacing and punctuation

Spaces are not used between all words in written Khmer. Spaces are used within sentences in roughly the same places
as commas might be in English, although they may also serve to set off certain items such as numbers and proper
names.

Western-style punctuation marks are quite commonly used in modern Khmer writing, including French-style
guillemets for quotation marks. However, traditional Khmer punctuation marks are also used; some of these are
described in the following table.

Mark Khmer name Function

Used as a period (the sign resembles an eighth rest in music writing). However, consecutive sentences on
។ ខណ្ឌ khând
the same theme are often separated only by spaces.

៘ ល៉ៈ lăk Equivalent to etc.

លេខទោ lékh toŭ

Duplication sign (similar in form to the Khmer numeral for 2). It indicates that the preceding word or phrase
ៗ ("figure two") is to be repeated (duplicated), a common feature in Khmer syntax.

បរិយោសាន
៕ bârĭyoŭsan
A period used to end an entire text or a chapter.

គោមូ ត្រ koŭmutr

៚ ("cow urine")
A period used at the end of poetic or religious texts.

ភ្នែកមាន់ phnêk
៙ moăn
A symbol (said to represent the elephant trunk of Ganesha) used at the start of poetic or religious texts.
("cock's eye")

ចំណុ ចពីរគូ ស
châmnŏch pir kus

៖ "two dots (and a)

Used similarly to a colon. (The middle line distinguishes this sign from a diacritic.)
line"

A hyphen (សហសញ្ញា sâhâ sânhnhéa) is commonly used between components of personal names, and also as in
English when a word is divided between lines of text. It can also be used between numbers to denote ranges or dates.
Particular uses of Western-style periods include grouping of digits in large numbers (see Numerals hereinbefore) and
denotation of abbreviations.

Styles
Several styles of Khmer writing are used for varying purposes. The two main styles are âksâr chriĕng (literally
"slanted script") and âksâr mul ("round script").

Âksâr chriĕng (អក្សរជ្រៀង) refers to oblique letters. Entire bodies of text such as novels and other publications
may be produced in âksâr chriĕng. Unlike in written English, oblique lettering does not represent any grammatical
differences such as emphasis or quotation. Handwritten Khmer is often written in the oblique style.
Âksâr chhôr (អក្សរឈរ) or Âksâr tráng (អក្សរត្រង់) refers to upright or 'standing' letters, as opposed to oblique
letters. Most modern Khmer typefaces are designed in this manner instead of being oblique, as text can be

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italicized by way of word processor commands and other computer
applications to represent the oblique manner of âksâr chriĕng.
Âksâr khâm (អក្សរខម), also known as the Khom Thai script, is a style used in
Pali palm-leaf manuscripts. It is characterized by sharper serifs and angles
and retainment of some antique characteristics, notably in the consonant kâ
(ក). This style is also for yantra tattoos and yantras on cloth, paper, or
engravings on brass plates in Cambodia as well as in Thailand.[16][17][18][19]
Âksâr mul (អក្សរមូ ល) is calligraphical style similar to âksâr khâm as it also
retains some characters reminiscent of antique Khmer script. Its name in
Khmer means literally 'round script' and it refers to the bold and thick lettering Âksâr khâm (អក្សរខម), or Akson
style. It is used for titles and headings in Cambodian documents, on books, khom (อักษรขอม), an antique style
banknotes, shop signs and banners. It is sometimes used to emphasize royal of the Khmer script as written in
names or other important names. Uttaradit, Thailand. In this picture,
although it was written with Khmer
script, all texts in this manuscript are
Unicode in Thai languages.

The basic Khmer block was added to the Unicode Standard in version 3.0, released
in September 1999. It then contained 103 defined code points; this was extended to 114 in version 4.0, released in
April 2003. Version 4.0 also introduced an additional block, called Khmer Symbols, containing 32 signs used for
writing lunar dates.

The Unicode block for basic Khmer characters is U+1780–U+17FF:

Khmer[1][2][3]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1780.pdf) (PDF)

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

U+178x ក ខ គ ឃ ង ច ឆ ជ ឈ ញ ដ ឋ ឌ ឍ ណ ត

U+179x ថ ទ ធ ន ប ផ ព ភ ម យ រ ល វ ឝ ឞ ស

U+17Ax ហ ឡ អ ឣ ឤ ឥ ឦ ឧ ឨ ឩ ឪ ឫ ឬ ឭ ឮ ឯ

 KIV 
 KIV 

U+17Bx ឰ ឱ ឲ ឳ AQ AA ា ិ ី ឹ ឺ ុ ូ ួ ើ ឿ

U+17Cx ៀ េ ែ ៃ ោ ៅ ំ ះ ៈ ៉ ៊ ់ ៌ ៍ ៎ ៏

U+17Dx ័ ៑  ្  ៓ ។ ៕ ៖ ៗ ៘ ៙ ៚ ៛ ៜ ៝

U+17Ex ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩

U+17Fx ៰ ៱ ៲ ៳ ៴ ៵ ៶ ៷ ៸ ៹

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 14.0

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
3.^ U+17A3 and U+17A4 are deprecated as of Unicode versions 4.0 and 5.2 respectively

The first 35 characters are the consonant letters (including two obsolete). The symbols at U+17A3 and U+17A4 are
deprecated (they were intended for use in Pali and Sanskrit transliteration, but are identical in appearance to the
consonant អ, written alone or with the a vowel). These are followed by the 15 independent vowels (including one
obsolete and one variant form). The code points U+17B4 and U+17B5 are invisible combining marks for inherent
vowels, intended for use only in special applications.

Next come the 16 dependent vowel signs and the 12 diacritics (excluding the kbiĕh kraôm, which is identical in form
to the ŏ dependent vowel); these are represented together with a dotted circle, but should be displayed appropriately
in combination with a preceding Khmer letter.

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The code point U+17D2, called ជើង ceung, meaning "foot", is used to indicate that a following consonant is to be
written in subscript form. It is not normally visibly rendered as a character. U+17D3 was originally intended for use in
writing lunar dates, but its use is now discouraged (see the Khmer Symbols block hereafter). The next seven
characters are the punctuation marks listed hereinbefore; these are followed by the riel currency symbol, a rare sign
corresponding to the Sanskrit avagraha, and a mostly obsolete version of the vĭréam diacritic. The U+17Ex series
contains the Khmer numerals, and the U+17Fx series contains variants of the numerals used in divination lore.

The block with additional lunar date symbols is U+19E0–U+19FF:

Khmer Symbols[1]

Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U19E0.pdf) (PDF)

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

U+19Ex ᧠ ᧡ ᧢ ᧣ ᧤ ᧥ ᧦ ᧧ ᧨ ᧩ ᧪ ᧫ ᧬ ᧭ ᧮ ᧯

U+19Fx ᧰ ᧱ ᧲ ᧳ ᧴ ᧵ ᧶ ᧷ ᧸ ᧹ ᧺ ᧻ ᧼ ᧽ ᧾ ᧿
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 14.0

The symbols at U+19E0 and U+19F0 represent the first and second "eighth month" in a lunar year containing a leap-
month (see Khmer calendar). The remaining symbols in this block denote the days of a lunar month: those in the
U+19Ex series for waxing days, and those in the U+19Fx series for waning days.

See also
Khmer Braille
Romanization of Khmer
Khom Thai script

Notes
1. Herbert, Patricia; Anthony Crothers Milner (1989). South-East Asia: languages and literatures : a select guide.
University of Hawaii Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-8248-1267-0.
2. "Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia" (https://pressocm.gov.kh/en/archives/9539). Office of the Council of
Ministers. អង្គភាពព័ត៌មាន និងប្រតិកម្មរហ័ស. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
3. Huffman, Franklin. 1970. Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-
300-01314-0.
4. Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography, R. Malatesha Joshi, Catherine McBride(2019), p.28
5. Punnee Soonthornpoct: From Freedom to Hell: A History of Foreign Interventions in Cambodian Politics And
Wars. Page 29. Vantage Press.
6. Russell R. Ross: Cambodia: A Country Study. Page 112. Library of Congress, USA, Federal Research Division,
1990.
7. Lowman, Ian Nathaniel (2011). The Descendants of Kambu: The Political Imagination of Angkorian Cambodia (htt
ps://escholarship.org/uc/item/06j1b9tp) (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
8. "Geographical Names of the Kingdom of Cambodia" (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncs
gn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.30_corr1.pdf) (PDF). Reports by Governments on the Situation in Their
Countries and on the Progress Made in the Standardization of Geographical Names Since the Seventh
Conference. Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Berlin, 27 August-
5 September 2002. Item 4 of the provisional agenda.
9. Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names – Khmer (http://w
ww.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_km.pdf), UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems, September 2013 (linked from
WGRS website (http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/)).
10. "Unicode 12.1 Character Code Charts - Khmer" (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1780.pdf) (PDF).
11. The letter ឡ lâ has no subscript form in standard orthography, but some fonts include one (្ឡ), as a form to be
rendered if the character appears after the Khmer subscripting character (see under Unicode).
12. Jacob, Judith M. (1968). Introduction to Cambodian (https://archive.org/details/introductiontoca0000jaco). Internet
Archive. London ; Bombay [etc.] : Oxford University Press. pp. 19 (https://archive.org/details/introductiontoca0000j
aco/page/19), 29–30.
13. Official Unicode Consortium code chart for Khmer (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1780.pdf) (PDF)
14. Huffman (1970), p. 29.
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15. Different dictionaries use slightly different orderings; the system presented here is that used in the official
Cambodian Dictionary, as described by Huffman (1970), p. 305.
16. May, Angela Marie. (2014). Sak Yant: The Transition from Indic Yantras to Thai Magical Buddhist Tattoos
(Master's thesis) (p. 6). The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
17. Igunma, Jana. (2013). Aksoon Khoom: Khmer Heritage in Thai and Lao Manuscript Cultures. Tai Culture, 23:
Route of the Roots: Tai-Asiatic Cultural Interaction.
18. Tsumura, Fumihiko. (2009). Magical Use of Traditional Scripts in Northeastern Thai Villages. Senri Ethnological
Studies, 74, 63-77.
19. This particular style of Khmer shall not be confused with another script with the same name, described by Paul
Sidwell (see Khom script (Ong Kommadam)).

References
Dictionnaire Cambodgien, Vol I & II, 1967, L'institut Bouddhique (Khmer Language)
Jacob, Judith. 1974. A Concise Cambodian-English Dictionary. London, Oxford University Press.

External links
Omniglot entry on Khmer (http://omniglot.com/writing/khmer.htm)
Khmer Romanization Table (http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_km.pdf) (PDF)

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