CONSONANTS | VOWELS | NUMERALS | PECULIARITIES | THAI | BURMESE | CHINESE

KHMER SCRIPT

 

 

ភាសាខែ្មរ

Introduction

This section is intended as a reference and aid to help transcribe or recognize Khmer or Cambodian words. Whilst the Khmer alphabet is related to Sanskrit and Pali, it closely resembles the Thai and Lao alphabets, which both were developed from it. Like Sanskrit, Khmer has an alphabet in which each consonant has an inherent vowel, being either an ‘a’ or an ‘o’, and vowels exist independently as separate letters as well as in a diacritic form. The pronunciation of the vowels depends on whether a consonant has an inherent ‘a’ or an inherent ‘o’. All consonants also have a subscript form which is used to form consonant clusters. The script used is the Khmer UI System. Note that the subscript consonants and some vowels or other characters in Khmer script may be displayed erroneous in certain browsers. If subscript consonants are displayed twice the same character with a plus mark (+) underneath, then the script is flawed. If so, the correct form can be seen either by downloading additional software or by copying the text in a Word file. You may also click here to see the text in a Word file, or click here to visit an adapted page of this section of an earlier edition, which uses picture files for the Khmer vowel diacritics and subscript consonants, rather than typed text. See also comparative language list.

 

Consonants

First Group

 

..... ga (ka)

..... kha

..... ja (ča)

..... cha (čha)

..... da (a)

..... dta (ha)

..... ta

..... tha

..... ba (pa)

..... pha

..... o/na (ɳ)

..... sa

..... ha

..... la

..... a

..... ša​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Second Group

 

..... go (ko)

..... kho

..... jo (čo)

..... cho (čho)

..... o

..... tho (dho)

..... dto (dto)

..... tho (dho)

..... bpo (po)

..... pho (pho)

..... no

..... ngo (ŋ/)

..... mo

..... ño/nyo

..... ro

..... yo

..... lo

..... wo/vo

..... o

~ Subscript Consonants

ក្ក

ខ្ខ

ច្ច

ឆ្ឆ

ដ្ដ

ឋ្ឋ

ត្ត

ថ្ថ

ប្ប

ផ្ផ

ហ្ហ

ឡ្ឡ

អ្អ

គ្គ

ឃ្ឃ

ជ្ជ

ឈ្ឈ

ឌ្ឌ

ឍ្ឍ

ទ្ទ

ធ្ធ

ព្ព

ភ្ភ

ង្ង

ញ្ញ

ណ្ណ

ន្ន

ម្ម

យ្យ

រ្រ

ល្ល

ឝ្ឝ

ឞ្ឞ

ស្ស

វ្វ

 

Vowels

..... a

..... ah

..... i

..... ih

..... u

..... uh/oo

..... e

..... ai

..... oh

..... oh

..... au

​​..... varies from word to word

 

~ Vowel Diacritics

First Group

 

..... ka    

កា ..... kaa 

កិ ..... ke (keu)  

កី ..... kay

កឹ ..... keu

កឺ ..... keuh

កុ​ ..... ko

កូ​ ..... koa

កូវ​ ..... kow

កួ​ ..... kooa

កើ​ ..... kar

កឿ​ ..... keu-a

កៀ ..... kee-a

កេ​ ..... kay

កែ​ ..... kai

កៃ​ ..... kai

កោ​ ..... kao

កៅ​ ..... kao

កុំ​ ..... kom

កំ​ ..... kom

កាំ​ ..... kum

កះ​ ..... ka    

កុះ..... ko    

កេះ..... ke    

កោះ..... ko

Second Group

 

..... ko

គា ..... kee-a

គិ ..... ki/keu

គី ..... kee

គឹ ..... keu

គឺ ..... keuh

គុ​ ..... ku

គូ​ ..... kuh

គូវ​ ..... koow

គួ​ ..... kooa

គើ​ ..... ker

គឿ​ ..... keu-a

គៀ ..... kee-a

គេ ..... kay

គែ ..... kair

គៃ ..... kay-ee

គោ​ ..... koa

គៅ ..... kou

គុំ ..... koom

គំ ..... koom

គាំ​ ..... koa-um

គះ ..... kay-a

គុះ ..... kooh

គេះ ..... kih/keh

គោះ ..... koo-ah

 

Numerals

 

..... 1

 

..... 2

 

..... 3

 

..... 4

 

..... 5

..... 6

 

..... 7

 

..... 8

 

..... 9

 

0 ..... 0

 

 

Peculiarities

..... reu

..... reuh

..... leu

..... leuh

បា ..... baa = ​​ +

​​..... independent vowel with varying pronunciation (ay, ...)

។​ ..... full stop, used at the end of a sentence

..... used for repetition