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I am compiling these notes as I explore the Khmer script as used for Khmer. They may be updated from time to time.
The page lists the Unicode characters used to represent Khmer text, and briefly describes their use. It starts with short notes on general script features and discussions about which Unicode characters are most appropriate when there is a choice.
For more detailed information, especially about the history and phonology of Khmer, follow the links in the text and at the bottom of the page. You can also click on the symbols in the next section to jump to a description of that character. When you see red text (examples of Khmer) you can click on them to reveal the component characters.
To view this page as intended, you should download the (free) Khmer OS Battambang font from the Web (see the side bar).
Consonants:
Subscript consonants:
Vowel signs:
Combinations of vowel signs:
Independent vowels:
Subscript independent vowels:
Combining marks:
Punctuation:
Numbers:
Symbols:
Rare characters:
Deprecated characters:
To see a list of ligatures and alternative shapes go to the 'shape' view of the Khmer character picker. (Hint: to see the composition of a conjunct, click on it and select 'Codepoints' or 'Analyse'.)
The script is an abugida, ie. like most Bhahmi-influenced scripts, each consonant carries with it an inherent vowel. The sound following a consonant can be modified by attaching vowel signs to the consonant when writing.
Direction of text is horizontal, left to right. However, glyphs constituting a single syllable can appear on all sides of the initial character.
A key feature of Khmer is that there are a large number of vowel sounds, and only a few vowel signs, but a large number of consonant signs for only a small number of consonant sounds. This lead to a system where there are generally two consonant signs for a given sound, each belonging to one of two classes (or registers). So to determine the pronunciation of a vowel sign you start by seeing which class of consonant it follows. For example, using the two symbols for the sound k, ក is kɑː (neck), and គ is kɔː (mute).
Diacritics are available to change the class of a consonant. These are particularly useful when a particular sound has only one character associated with it, such as មយស etc.
In addition, there is the coeng generator , which has no visual form in Cambodian, and sets of divination lore and lunar date symbols which are not described here (but are available from the picker).
There are two distinct styles of font in Modern Khmer: slanted អក្សរច្រៀង (with an upright variant) and round អក្សរឈរ. The round style includes more ligated forms. The upright style is used here. Style examples: slanted upright អក្សរ ខ្មែ, round អក្សរ ខ្មែ.
The syllable is fundamental in Cambodian.
Many native Cambodian words are monosyllabic. These start with one or more consonants or an independent vowel (or a vowel sign attached to ʔɑː, which is a combination of both). Short vowels in stressed syllables are always followed by a consonant. Long vowels may not be. There are many monosyllabic words that begin with consonant clusters, and some monosyllabic words that end with clusters, although only one consonant is pronounced in syllable final position.
There are also many bisyllabic words. In many cases the first syllable in a bisyllabic word is unstressed, and the vowel is usually rendered in colloquial speech as a schwa. Some bisyllabic words are compounds, however, and this may not apply.
Polysyllabic words are usually of Sanskrit, Pali or French origin. These words tend to alternate stress across their syllables, but may not.
Several vowel characters are composed of separate parts visually, eg. ើ aw/əː. The descendants of the anusvara and the visarga, called niʔkəhət និគ្គហិត and reə̆hmuk រះមុខ respectively, are also regarded as vowels in Khmer, even though their vowel sounds still end with ŋ and h respectively. Two combinations of these characters and other vowel sign characters are regarded as vowels in the alphabet but not encoded separately in Unicode (though they are named sequences), ie. អាំ am/oə̆m and អុំ om/um.
Other diacritics also produce vowel sounds after or before the consonants they are attached to.
As mentioned above, an initial indicator of pronunciation is the class of the syllable initial consonant. Additional factors include whether this is an unstressed vowel, vowel harmony, and whether any of the special diacritics have been used to change the sound. For an in-depth treatment of pronunciation see Huffman in the sources section.
Inherent vowels Khmer has two inherent vowels, ɑː and ɔː. The class of the consonant will initially dictate which sound is appropriate, eg. ក kɑː vs. គ kɔː.
Inherent vowels are not pronounced after syllable final consonants.
Vowel signs. As mentioned above, in most cases, vowel signs attached to a consonant are pronounced differently, depending on the register of the consonant letter, eg. កា kaː vs. គា kiə.
Independent vowels. There are two ways of representing vowel sounds that are not preceded by a consonant.
The most common way is to add a vowel-sign to the character អ, eg. អី ʔəj.
There are also some independent vowel letters, but unlike most South Asian scipts, there are fewer independent vowels than vowel signs, and some do not have direct correspondances with a vowel sign, eg. ឪ corresponds phonetically to the vowel plus consonant combination ូវ.
Whether an independent vowels sound is represented using an independent vowel sign or the glottal consonant plus vowel sign varies from word to word. In Cambodian orthography the two are not interchangeable. The independent vowel signs appear in relatively few words, but some of those words are quite common, eg. ឪពុក ʔəwpuk (father), ឲ្យ ʔaoj (to give ) and ឮ lɨː (to hear ).
Vowel harmony. In two-syllable words, where the second syllable begins with one of the following consonants, ងញណនមយឡលរវ, the vowel class of the second syllable is the same as that of the first, eg. in ប្រយ័ត្ន prɑjat (to be careful), the second syllable starts with an oː class consonant but the class of the preceding syllable turns the vowel to an ɑː class sound. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.
Final consonants. Not all Khmer consonants can appear in syllable-final position. The most common syllable-final consonants include កងញតនបមល. The pronunciation of the consonant in final position may differ from it's normal pronunciation.
Subscript consonants. It is common to find clusters of consonants with no intervening vowel sounds. In Khmer, this is very common at the beginning of a word, but clusters also occur medially in multisyllable words, and occasionally at the end of a word.
When two consonants occur together without an intervening vowel, the second is rendered in subscript form, called ជើងអក្សរ cəːŋʔɑʔsɑː (consonant feet) (called in Unicode 'coeng'). Cambodians see these subscripts as distinct letter forms, but in Unicode they are produced by inserting 17D2: KHMER SIGN COENG before the consonant that will become a subscript.
Where the two consonants involved in the cluster are in different classes or registers, the pronunciation of any following vowel is normally determined by the register of the subscript consonant. For the following exceptions, however, the vowel pronunciation is determined by the register of the first consonant: ងញនមយរលវ. XXX Add an example.
Some subscripts change the sound of the preceding consonant.
Subscript consonants that appear at the end of a word, are silent, eg. ពេទ្យ peit; រដ្ឋ roat.
In some multisyllabic words a medial cluster may contain a final consonant for the first syllable and the initial consonant of the next syllable, eg. កម្មករ kɑmmɔkɑː (worker ) .
There are some clusters involving two subscripts. These are, with three exceptions, composed of a final nasal, followed by a stop and r, eg. កន្ត្រៃ kɑntraj scissors, កញ្ជ្រេង kɑɲcreːŋ (fox). The three exceptions are the loan words, អង្គ្លេស ʔɑŋkleːh (English), សងស្ក្រិត sɑŋskret (Sanskrit), and សាស្ត្រាចារ្យ sɑstraːcaː (teacher).
It is rare but possible to find subscripts used after independent vowels. One common word spelled this way is ឲ្យ ʔaoj (to give).
It is also possible to find subscript forms of independent vowels. Four of these are named sequences in Unicode. (See the table above.)
There is very little in the way of interaction between characters other than the subscript shapes used after the coeng generator.
Some small joining features occur in relation to ា and similarly shaped vowels. Unicode provides the following list of common forms:
Some reshaping of glyphs is needed to cope with stacking of characters. Compare for example the length of the final element in ង្យ and ង្ខ្យ.
Also, when museʔkətoə̯n or trəisaɓ appears with a vowel sign above the consonant, the ក្បៀសក្រោម kɓiəhkraom form is used. This looks exactly like sra-o អុ, eg. compare យ៉ាង and ម៉ឺន məɨn (10,000) or ញ៉ាំ ɲam (to eat). (This behaviour can be modified using the zero-width non-joiner.)
Another common feature is that ញ drops the swash below the baseline when followed by a subscript consonant, eg. បញ្ឆោត ɓɑɲcʰaot (to trick). Also, when it appears as a subscript under itself it uses a special full form subscript. Compare កញ្ញា kɑɲɲaa (young lady) and ប្រាជ្ញា praːcɲaa (intelligence).
Components of an 'orthographic syllable'* should be composed in the following order:
This fixed ordering makes it easier to search for and collate text.
As mentioned above, although all combining characters follow the base in memory, the visual order of syllable components may not follow a linear progression from left to right. In the following example the order in which the glyphs are pronounced is far left, far right, down, left, left: កន្ត្រៃ kɑntraj scissors. Here ច្រៀង the spoken order of the separate visible parts, numbered left to right, is 3,2, 1+4, 5, Some vowel signs span two or three sides of the base consonant or cluster.
Space. Khmer words are not separated by spaces, so the space, ឃ្លា kliə, is regarded as punctuation, similar to the comma. Huffman lists the following uses:
Huffman gives the following example to show the use of the space:
ថ្ងៃនេះ ខ្ញុំទៅផ្សារ ទិញក្រច អង្ករ ហើយនឹងអីវ៉ាន់ផ្សេង ៗ
tŋajnih kɲomtɨwpsaː tiɲkrouc ʔɑŋkɑː haəjnɨŋʔəjʋanpseiŋ pseiŋ
Today ( ) I'm going to the market ( ) to buy oranges ( ) rice ( ) and various things.
Other punctuation. Khmer uses other punctuation marks described in the punctuation section below. In addition to its own punctuation characters, Khmer uses Western punctuation marks, such as question mark (eg. ហេត៊អ្វី? haetʰ aʋəi), exclamation mark (eg. កុំ! kom).
Hyphens are used to indicate when part of a word has been wrapped onto a new line.
Hyphens are also used between the parts of a person's name. Typically the family name (written first) and following names, but often all names for Chinese Cambodians, eg. ញ៉ុក-ថែម ɲok tʰaem, លី-ធាម-តេង liː tʰiəm teiŋ.
U+1780 KHMER LETTER KA
Khmer consonant, kɑː
[k] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or followed by a vowel, eg. ក៏ [kɑː] also.
[k] before a subscript consonant.
[kʰ] when followed by a subscript ន or ម, eg. ក្មូយ [kʰmuəj].
[k] in final position, eg. លើក [ləːk] to lift.
្ក as a subscript consonant.
U+1781 KHMER LETTER KHA
Khmer consonant, kʰɑː
[kʰ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ខាង direction [kʰaːŋ].
[k] before a subscript consonant.
[k] in final position.
្ខ as a subscript consonant.
U+1782 KHMER LETTER KO
Khmer consonant, kɔː
[k] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. គេ [kei] they.
[k] before a subscript consonant.
[k] in final position.
[kʰ] when followed by a subscript ន or ម, eg. គ្នា [kʰniə].
្គ as a subscript consonant.
U+1783 KHMER LETTER KHO
Khmer consonant, kʰɔː
[kʰ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel.
[k] before a subscript consonant, eg. ឃ្លាន [kliən] hungry.
[k] in final position. Not common.
្ឃ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used.
U+1784 KHMER LETTER NGO
Khmer consonant, ŋɔː
[ŋ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ងងឹត [ŋoŋət] dark. (Note that this sound appears in syllable initial position in Khmer.)
Not used before a subscript consonant.
[ŋ] in final position.
្ង as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
U+1785 KHMER LETTER CA
Khmer consonant, cɑː
[c] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ចង់ [cɑŋ] to want.
[c] before a subscript consonant.
[ik] in final position. [c] according to Huffman.
្ច as a subscript consonant.
U+1786 KHMER LETTER CHA
Khmer consonant, cʰɑː
[cʰ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ឆា [cʰaː] stir fry.
[c] before a subscript consonant.
Not found in final position.
្ឆ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used.
U+1787 KHMER LETTER CO
Khmer consonant, cɔː
[c] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ជា [ciə] is.
[c] before a subscript consonant.
[ik] in final position. [c] according to Huffman.
្ជ as a subscript consonant.
U+1788 KHMER LETTER CHO
Khmer consonant, cʰɔː
[cʰ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ឈឺ [cʰɨː] sick.
[c] before a subscript consonant.
Not found in final position.
្ឈ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used.
U+1789 KHMER LETTER NYO
Khmer consonant, ɲɔː
[ɲ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ញី [ɲiː] female.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[ɲ] in final position.
្ញ as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
The bottom of this character is dropped when followed by a subscript consonant, eg. បញ្ឆោត [ɓɑɲcʰaot] to trick.
There are two shapes used for the subscript. When this character appears twice in a cluster, the full form is used. Elsewhere a reduce form is used. For example, compare កញ្ញា្ញ [kɑɲɲaa] young lady and ប្រាជ្ញា [praːcɲaa] intelligence.
U+178A KHMER LETTER DA
Khmer consonant, ɗɑː
[ɗ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ដុល្លារ [ɗɑllaː] dollar.
[ɗ] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
្ដ as a subscript consonant. This is the same shape as the subscript of tɑː ត.
U+178B KHMER LETTER TTHA
Khmer consonant, tʰɑː
[tʰ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel.
[t] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
This consonant is only used in a few words of Pali or Sanskrit origin.
្ឋ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used: often a silent final subscript.
U+178C KHMER LETTER DO
Khmer consonant, ɗɔː
[ɗ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
This consonant is rare and is only used in a few words of Pali or Sanskrit origin.
្ឌ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used.
U+178D KHMER LETTER TTHO
Khmer consonant, tʰɔː
[tʰ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
This consonant is only used in a few words of Pali or Sanskrit origin.
្ឍ as a subscript consonant. Obsolete, or rarely, if ever, used.
U+178E KHMER LETTER NNO
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• as this character belongs to the first register, its correct transliteration is nna, not nno
Khmer consonant, nɑː
[n] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ណាស់ [nah] very.
[n] before a subscript consonant.
[n] in final position.
្ណ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used: often a silent final subscript.
U+178F KHMER LETTER TA
Khmer consonant, tɑː
[t] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ត្រី [trəj] fish.
[ɗ] at the beginning of two syllable words where the first syllable ends with final nasal, eg. តង្វាយ [ɗɔŋʋaaj] gift.
[t] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
្ត as a subscript consonant. This is the same shape as the subscript of ɗɑː ដ.
The pronunciation when a subscript in medial position is unpredictable, sometimes [t] and sometimes [ɗ]. As a general rule, but not always, it is pronounced [t] when a subscript to nɔː ន, and [ɗ] when a subscript to nɑː ណ, eg. បន្តុះ [ɓɑntoh] to criticise, and បណ្តុះ [ɓɑnɗoh] to grow.
U+1790 KHMER LETTER THA
Khmer consonant, tʰɑː
[tʰ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. ថា [tʰaː] that.
[t] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
្ថ as a subscript consonant.
U+1791 KHMER LETTER TO
Khmer consonant, tɔː
[t] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ទម្ងន់ [tɔmŋɔn] weight.
[t] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
្ទ as a subscript consonant.
U+1793 KHMER LETTER NO
Khmer consonant, nɔː
[n] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. នឹង [nəŋ] future tense marker.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[n] in final position.
្ន as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
In some words it follows a silent ហ to make the following vowel behave as if it was an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ហ្ន is [nɑː].
U+1792 KHMER LETTER THO
Khmer consonant, tʰɔː
[tʰ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ភំ [tʰom] big.
[t] before a subscript consonant.
[t] in final position.
្ធ as a subscript consonant. Seldom used: often a silent final subscript.
U+1794 KHMER LETTER BA
Khmer consonant, ɓɑː
[ɓ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel, eg. បន្ទប់ [ɓɑntuɓ] room.
[p] when followed by a subscript consonant, eg. ម្រាំ [pram].
[p] in final position, eg. ឈប់ [cʰup] to stop.
[p] when below a museʔkətoə̯n, eg. ប៉ា [paː] father.
[p] in some words just by convention, eg. បច្ច័យ [paccaj] money.
្ប as a subscript consonant.
A ligature បា is used when this character is followed by sra-aː, to avoid similarity with hɑː ហ, eg. បាយ [ɓaaj] cooked rice. The same applies when followed by sra-ao បោ and sra-aw បៅ .
U+1795 KHMER LETTER PHA
Khmer consonant, pʰɑː
[pʰ] with inherent vowel [ɑː], eg. ផ្សារ [psaː] market.
[p] before a subscript consonant.
[p] in final position. Not common.
្ផ as a subscript consonant. Obsolete, or rarely, if ever, used.
U+1796 KHMER LETTER PO
Khmer consonant, pɔː
[p] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ពី [piː] from.
[p] before a subscript consonant.
[p] in final position.
្ព as a subscript consonant.
U+1797 KHMER LETTER PHO
Khmer consonant, pʰɔː
[pʰ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. ភាសា [pʰiəsaː] language.
[p] before a subscript consonant.
[p] in final position.
្ភ as a subscript consonant.
U+1798 KHMER LETTER MO
Khmer consonant, mɔː
[m] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. មុខ [muk] ahead, front.
[m] before a subscript consonant.
[m] in final position.
្ម as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
In some words it follows a silent ហ to make the following vowel behave as if it was an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ហ្ម is [mɑː].
U+1799 KHMER LETTER YO
Khmer consonant, jɔː
[j] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. យល់់ [jul] to understand.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[iː] in final position. Huffman says [j]
្យ as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
U+179A KHMER LETTER RO
Khmer consonant, rɔː
[r] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. រូប [ruːɓ] picture.
Not found before a subscript consonant, eg. ការ [kaa] work; ខ្មែរ [kmae] Cambodian.
Silent in final position. There is no final r sound in Cambodian, but the r symbol can sometimes disambiguate homonyms, eg. កា [kaa] to address (a letter) and ការ [kaa] to work; ពី [piː] from and ពីរ [piː] two.
្រ as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
U+179B KHMER LETTER LO
Khmer consonant, lɔː
[l] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel, eg. លុយ [luj] money.
[l] before a subscript consonant.
[l] in final position.
្ល as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
In some words it follows a silent ហ to make the following vowel behave as if it was an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ហ្ល is [lɑː].
U+179C KHMER LETTER VO
Khmer consonant, ʋɔː
[ʋ] with inherent vowel [ɔː] or before a vowel.
Not found before a subscript consonant.
[w] in final position.
្វ as a subscript consonant. As a subscript this consonant doesn't determine the pronunciation of the vowel sound, it is determined by the class of the non-subscript consonant.
In some words it follows a silent ហ to make the following vowel behave as if it was an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ហ្វូង [ʋouŋ] crowd.
In combination with preceding ហ it also gives [f], eg. ហ្វឹក [fek] train; កាហ្វេ [kaafei] coffee.
U+179F KHMER LETTER SA
Khmer consonant, sɑː
[s] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel.
[s] before a subscript consonant.
[h] in final position.
្ស as a subscript consonant.
U+17A0 KHMER LETTER HA
Khmer consonant, hɑː
[h] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel.
Silent before a subscript consonant.
Not found in final position.
្ហ as a subscript consonant.
In combination with subscript វ gives [f], eg. ហ្វឹក [fek] train; កាហ្វេ [kaafei] coffee.
In some words it combines with one of the following [ɔː] class subscripts, វមនល, to make the following vowel behave as if they were [ɑː] class consonants, eg. ហ្វូង [ʋouŋ], ហ្ម [mɑː], ហ្ន [nɑː], ហ្ល [lɑː].
U+17A1 KHMER LETTER LA
Khmer consonant, lɑː
[l] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel.
Not found before a subscript consonant or in final position.
Subscript consonant not used in Cambodia (only in Khmer spoken in Thailand).
U+17A2 KHMER LETTER QA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• glottal stop
Khmer consonant, ʔɑː
[ʔ] with inherent vowel [ɑː] or before a vowel.
[ʔ] before a subscript consonant.
Not found in final position.
្អ as a subscript consonant.
When used as a subscript at the beginning of a word this adds an extra syllable after the initial consonant, eg. ផ្អែម [pʰaʔaem]; ស្អាត [saʔaːtʰ].
U+17B6 KHMER VOWEL SIGN AA
Khmer vowel, sra-aː ស្រៈអា
[aː] after an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ណា [naː] which, where
[iə] after an [ɔː] class consonant, eg. ជា [ciə] to be
In combination with a following nikahit អាំ this is regarded as a letter of the Khmer alphabet. Sounds are:
[am] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[oə̯m] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
In combination with a following nikahit and ŋɔː អាំង:
[aŋ] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɛaŋ] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17B7 KHMER VOWEL SIGN I
Khmer vowel, sra-e ស្រៈអិ
[e] after an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ចិត្ដ [cet] heart
[i] after an [ɔː] class consonant, eg. វិញ [ʋiɲ] instead, again
In combination with a following reahmuk អិះ this is regarded as a letter of the Khmer alphabet. (It has the same sound, followed by h), eg. ជិះ [cih] to ride. This combination has the same sound as អេះ, but this is much less common.
U+17B8 KHMER VOWEL SIGN II
Khmer sra-əj ស្រៈអី
[əj] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[iː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17B9 KHMER VOWEL SIGN Y
Khmer sra-ə ស្រៈអឹ
[ə] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɨ] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17BA KHMER VOWEL SIGN YY
Khmer sra-əɨ ស្រៈអឺ
[əɨ] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɨː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17BB KHMER VOWEL SIGN U
Khmer vowel, sra-o ស្រៈអុ
[o] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[u] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
In combination with a following reə̯hmuk អុះ this is regarded as a letter of the Khmer alphabet. (It has the same sound, followed by h), eg. ចុះ [coh] so?.
U+17BC KHMER VOWEL SIGN UU
Khmer sra-ou ស្រៈអូ
[ou] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[uː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17BE KHMER VOWEL SIGN OE
Khmer sra-aə ស្រៈអើ
[aə] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[əː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17C1 KHMER VOWEL SIGN E
Khmer vowel, sra-ei ស្រៈអេ
[ei] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[eː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
Combined with reə̯hmuk អេះ:
U+17C2 KHMER VOWEL SIGN AE
Khmer sra-ae ស្រៈអែ
[ae] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɛː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17C3 KHMER VOWEL SIGN AI
Khmer sra-aj ស្រៈអៃ
[aj] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɨj] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17C4 KHMER VOWEL SIGN OO
Khmer vowel, sra-ao ស្រៈអោ
[ao] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[oː] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
Combined with reə̯hmuk អោះ:
U+17C5 KHMER VOWEL SIGN AU
Khmer sra-aw ស្រៈអៅ
[aw] after an [ɑː] class consonant.
[ɨw] after an [ɔː] class consonant.
U+17C6 KHMER SIGN NIKAHIT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= srak am
= anusvara
• final nasalization
• this character is usually regarded as a vowel sign am, along with om and aam
→ (thai character nikhahit - 0E4D)
→ (myanmar sign anusvara - 1036)
Khmer Vowel niʔkəhət និគ្គហិត
Although it can be equated with the anusvara in Sanskrit, this is usually regarded as a vowel sign or a part of a vowel sign in Khmer.
[ɑm] after an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. កំពុង [kɑmpuŋ] present tense marker.
[um] after an [ɔː] class consonant, eg. រំភើប [rumɓəːpʰ] excited
Combined with sra-o អុ:
Combined with sra-aː អា:
Combined with sra-aː and ŋɔː អាង:
In some words of Sanskrit origin, the niʔkəhət represents [aŋ] or [an], eg. សំស្ក្រិត [sɑŋskret] Sanskrit and សំយោគសញ្ញា [sɑnjoːksaɲɲaː] name of a diacritic.
U+17C7 KHMER SIGN REAHMUK
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= srak ah
= visarga
→ (myanmar sign visarga - 1038)
Khmer vowel, reə̆hmuk រះមុខ
Although it can be equated with the visarga in Sanskrit, this is regarded as a vowel sign or part of a vowel sign in Khmer.
[ah] with an [ɑː] class inherent vowel, eg. ខ្លះ [klɑh] some.
[eə̆h] with an [ɔː] class inherent vowel or an [ɔː] class sra-aː អា, eg. ផ្ទះ [pteə̆h] house, home.
[h] after the normal sounds of short vowels sra-e អិ, sra-ə អឹ, and sra-o អុ, eg. ជិះ [cih] to ride, កឹះ [kəh] to scratch,ពុះ [puh] to boil.
[ih] with sra-ei អេ as an [ɔː] class vowel, eg. នេះ [nih] this.
[eh] with sra-ei អេ or sra-aj អៃ as an [ɑː] class vowel, eg. សេះ [seh] horse, កែះ [keh] wild goat .
[əh] with sra-aə អើ as an [ɑː] class vowel, eg. ចង្កើះ [cɑŋkəh] chopsticks.
[ɑh] with sra-ao អោ as an [ɑː] class vowel, eg. កោះ [kɑh] island.
[uə̆h] with sra-ao អោ as an [ɔː] class vowel, eg. គោះ [kuə̆h] strike.
U+17A3 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAQ
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• use of this character is strongly discouraged; 17A2 should be used instead
Khmer deprecated independent vowel
This should be considered an error in the encoding. Use of this character is strongly discouraged; 17A2: KHMER LETTER QA should be used instead.
Originally intended only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration, but not actually a separate character in Khmer.
U+17B2 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QOO TYPE TWO
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• this is a variant for 17B1, used in only two words
• 17B1 is the normal variant of this vowel
Khmer independent vowel, sra-ao ស្រៈឱ
[ao]
This is a variant of KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QOO TYPE ONE that is only used, according to Unicode, in two words, one of which, ឲ្យ [ʔaoj] to give, is very common however.
U+17A4 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• use of this character is strongly discouraged; the sequence 17A2 17B6 should be used instead
Khmer deprecated independent vowel
This should be considered an error in the encoding. Use of this character is discouraged; the sequence 17A2: KHMER LETTER QA + 17B6: KHMER VOWEL SIGN AA should be used instead.
Originally intended only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration, but not actually a separate character in Khmer.
U+17A5 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QI
Khmer Independent vowel sra-ʔəʔ ស្រៈឥ
[ʔə], eg. ឥត [ʔət] not
[ʔɨ], eg. ឥត [ʔət] not
U+17CB KHMER SIGN BANTOC
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• shortens the vowel sound in the previous orthographic syllable
• the preferred transliteration is bantak
Khmer Mark, ɓɑntɑk បន្តក់
Always placed above the final consonant. Basically shortens the preceding vowel. Affects the preceding vowel sound in one of the following ways:
U+17CF KHMER SIGN AHSDA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• denotes stressed intonation in some single-consonant words
Khmer mark, leːk ʔahsɗaː លេខអស្ដា
Used over two consonants to indicate that they represent two specific words:
U+17CD KHMER SIGN TOANDAKHIAT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• indicates that the base character is not pronounced
Khmer mark, tɔnɗɔkʰiət ទណ្ឌឃាត
Used over a consonant, particularly in loan words, to silence it and any attached vowels or subscripts, eg. សាសន៍ [saːh] race, ethnicity, and សប្ដាហ៍ [sɑpɗaː] week; រេហ៍ពល [rɔpuə̆l] army.
U+17C9 KHMER SIGN MUUSIKATOAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• changes the second register to the first
• the preferred transliteration is muusekatoan
Khmer mark, museʔkətoə̯n មូសិកទន្ត or tmɨɲ kɑnɗao ធ្មេញកណ្ដរ
Changes the class of a consonant from [ɔː] to [ɑː], affecting the inherent vowel and any other vowel following the consonant, eg. ម៉ត់ចត់ [mɑtcɑt] careful, រ៉ាប់ [rap] to guarrantee. It is used for the following consonants that don't have equivalents in the [ɑː] class: ងញមយរវ. It is usually written over the right-hand side of the consonant glyph. This is also especially useful for spelling foreign names. Eg. យ៉ាង [jaːŋ] kind (cf. យាង [yiəŋ] to go (royalty)).
Changes the sound of ɓɑː ប from [ɓ] to [p], eg. ប៉ះ [pah] to touch. This is the only way to write an [ɑː] class [p]. Eg. ប៉ាន [paːn] to cover (cf. បាន [ɓaːn] to have).
When this appears with a vowel sign above the consonant, the ក្បៀសក្រោម [kɓiəhkraom] form is used. This looks exactly like sra-o អុ, eg. ម៉ឺន [məɨn] 10,000; ញ៉ាំ [ɲam] to eat.
You can prevent this behaviour using a zero-width non-joiner between this character and the following one, eg. ញ៉ាំ.
tmɨɲ kɑnɗao means "rat's teeth".
U+17CA KHMER SIGN TRIISAP
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• changes the first register to the second
• the preferred transliteration is treisap
Khmer mark, trəisaɓ ត្រីសព្ទ
Changes the class of a consonant from [ɔː] to [oː], affecting the inherent vowel and also any other vowel following the consonant, eg. ក្រុមហ៊ុន [kromhun ] company; ហ៊ាន [hiən] to dare (cf. ហាន[haːn]shop); អ៊ូ [ʔuː] dry dock (cf. អូ[ʔou]exclamation). This is especially useful for spelling foreign names.
When this appears with a vowel sign above the consonant, the ក្បៀសក្រោម [kɓiəhkraom] form is used. This looks exactly like sra-o អុ, eg. in ស៊ី [siː] to eat.
You can prevent this behaviour using a zero-width non-joiner between this character and the following one, eg. ស៊ី.
U+17CC KHMER SIGN ROBAT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• a diacritic historically corresponding to the repha form of ra in Devanagari
Khmer mark, rɔɓaːt របាទ
Not a very common mark. It silences final consonants, eg. បរិបូណ៌ [ɓɑriɓou] abundant.
Over a word-medial syllable-initial consonant it introduces the sound [rə] before the syllable, eg. ទុគ៌ត [tuːrəkuə̆t] destitute.
It can also convert the vowel sound of the previous consonant from [ɔː] to [ɔə] as well as silencing the consonant it appears over, eg. ពណ៌ [pɔə] colour.
U+17D0 KHMER SIGN SAMYOK SANNYA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• denotes deviation from the general rules of pronunciation, mostly used in loan words from Pali/Sanskrit, French, and so on
Khmer mark, sanjoːksaɲɲaː សំយោគសញ្ញា
[a] over an [ɑː] class consonant, eg. ស័កិ្ត [sak] rank; ស័កិ្ត [sak] rank.
[oə̯] over an [ɔː] class consonant, in general, eg. ទ័ព [toə̯p] army.
[eə̯] over an [ɔː] class consonant followed by ŋɔː ង, eg. វ័ង [ʋeə̯ŋ] palace.
(Note that all of the above are the same as if a sra-aː plus niʔkəhət had been used.)
[ɔə] over a consonant followed by rɔː រ (these are always [ɔː] class consonants), eg. ជ័រ [cɔə] resin.
[ɨ] over an [ɔː] class consonant followed by jɔː យ, eg. ជ័យ [cɨj] victory.
Gilbert & Hang say that the sound is [e] usually, when over ʋɔː វ or nɔː ន.
.
U+17C8 KHMER SIGN YUUKALEAPINTU
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• inserts a short inherent vowel with abrupt glottal stop
• the preferred transliteration is yukaleakpintu
Khmer mark, juʔkɔluə̆ʔpintuʔ យុគលពិន្ទុ
Used as a vowel after consonants that are to be used as stressed syllables at the end of a word, or preceding an internal juncture in compounds.
[aʔ] as an [ɑː] class vowel, eg. ស្រៈ [sraʔ] vowel
[eə̆ʔ] as an [ɔː] class vowel, eg. ធុរៈ [tʰureə̆ʔ] preoccupation
This character is a modern innovation. It is also used in the official Cambodian Dictionary to mark any consonant symbol which is pronounced independently.
U+17CE KHMER SIGN KAKABAT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• sign used with some exclamations
Khmer kaːkɑɓaːt កាកបាទ
Very rare, but used over the final consonant of a word like an exclamation mark, to convey excited emphasis, eg. ណែ៎ [nɛː] Hey !; នុ៎ះន៎ [nuhnɔː] Over there !
U+17D4 KHMER SIGN KHAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• functions as a full stop, period
→ (thai character paiyannoi - 0E2F)
→ (myanmar sign little section - 104A)
Khmer punctuation, kʰan ខ័ណ្ឌ
Equivalent of a period, placed at the end of a sentence.
Also used in the combination ។ល។ [lanəŋla] to mean etcetera.
U+17D5 KHMER SIGN BARIYOOSAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• indicates the end of a section or a text
→ (thai character angkhankhu - 0E5A)
→ (myanmar sign section - 104B)
Khmer punctuation, ɓɑːrijaosaːn បរិយោសាន
Used at the end of a chapter or an entire text.
U+17D6 KHMER SIGN CAMNUC PII KUUH
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• functions as colon
• the preferred transliteration is camnoc pii kuuh
→ (division sign - 00F7)
→ (tibetan mark gter tsheg - 0F14)
Khmer punctuation, cɑmnoc piː kuːh ចំណុចពីរគូស
Used much like a colon in English.
It is typically used after the quotative particle ថា៖ [tʰaː] saying, as follows and the copulative គ [kɨː] that is.
U+17D7 KHMER SIGN LEK TOO
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• repetition sign
→ (thai character maiyamok - 0E46)
Khmer symbol, stuən ស្ទួន
Repetition sign. Repeats the word directly before. A common way of providing emphasis, eg. ខ្លាំង ៗ [klaŋklaŋ] very strong; គាត់មានផ្ទះថ្មី ៗ [kaːtʰ miən pʰteə̯h tʰməitʰməi] he has a brand new house.
Sometimes repeats a phrase rather than a word, eg. បន្តិចម្ដង ៗ [ɓɑntecmɗɑːŋ ɓɑntecmɗɑːŋ] little by little.
It is also occasionally used to repeat the word at the end of a sentence for the beginning of a new sentence (Huffman), eg. ខ្ញុំទៅផ្ទះខ្ញុំ ។ នៅជិតផ្សារ [kɲomtɨwpteə̆hkɲom pteə̆hkɲom nɨwcɨtpsaː] .
The sign is usually separated from the text by a space.
U+17DB KHMER CURRENCY SYMBOL RIEL
Khmer currency sign, saɲ ɲaː riəl សញ្ញារៀល
Placed after the amount, eg. ៣០០០ ៛ [ɓej poan riəl] 3000 riel.
U+17DA KHMER SIGN KOOMUUT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• indicates the end of a book or treatise
• this forms a pair with 17D9
• the preferred transliteration is koomoot
→ (thai character khomut - 0E5B)
Khmer punctuation, koːmout គោមូត្រ
Marks the absolute end of a text. Usually used for poetic or religious texts.
Forms a pair with ៙, which starts a text.
Sometimes used in combination as ។៚.
Means cow's urine.
U+17D2 KHMER SIGN COENG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• functions to indicate that the following Khmer letter is to be rendered subscripted
• shape shown is arbitrary and is not visibly rendered
Khmer virama, cəːŋ sign ជើង
Serves to indicate in Unicode text that the following consonant should be rendered as a subscript. The shape is arbitrary, since it is never visible in Khmer (unlike Devanagari etc.).
cəːŋ (transcribed in Unicode as COENG) is actually the name given to the subscripted consonants themselves, and this should more accurately be called a cəːŋ generator.
This virama-based model used by Unicode is consistent with the approach to other Indic scripts, however Cambodian people regard the subscripted consonants as different entities to the normal consonant characters, and need to be taught to use a cəːŋ sign to type in Unicode.
U+17A3 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAQ
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• use of this character is strongly discouraged; 17A2 should be used instead
Khmer deprecated independent vowel
This should be considered an error in the encoding. Use of this character is strongly discouraged; 17A2: KHMER LETTER QA should be used instead.
Originally intended only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration, but not actually a separate character in Khmer.
U+17A4 KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• use of this character is strongly discouraged; the sequence 17A2 17B6 should be used instead
Khmer deprecated independent vowel
This should be considered an error in the encoding. Use of this character is discouraged; the sequence 17A2: KHMER LETTER QA + 17B6: KHMER VOWEL SIGN AA should be used instead.
Originally intended only for Pali/Sanskrit transliteration, but not actually a separate character in Khmer.
U+17D1 KHMER SIGN VIRIAM
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• mostly obsolete, a 'killer'
• indicates that the base character is the final consonant of a word without its inherent vowel sound
Khmer mark, ʋiriəm វិរាម
The sanskrit virama, sometimes used in Sanskrit words to indicate that a final consonant has no vowel sound, eg. អាត្មន៑ [ʔaːtman] soul.
Sometimes this appears as a bar over the consonant, sometimes as a wide, inverted v-shape under the consonant.
The Cambodian way of spelling such words uses the sanjoːksaɲɲaː អ័.
U+17D8 KHMER SIGN BEYYAL
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• et cetera
• use of this character is discouraged; other abbreviations for et cetera also exist
• preferred spelling: 17D4 179B 17D4
Khmer abbreviation, lanəŋla ។ល។
Means et cetera. Use of this character is discouraged. The preferred representation uses the individual characters, eg. ។ល។.
Other spellings for et cetera also exist. These include:
Pronounced [lɑʔ].
U+17D9 KHMER SIGN PHNAEK MUAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• indicates the beginning of a book or a treatise
• the preferred transliteration is phnek moan
→ (thai character fongman - 0E4F)
Khmer punctuation, pnɛːkmoə̆n ភ្នែកមាន់
Marks the beginning of literary and religious texts.
Forms a pair with ៚, which ends a text.
Means cock's eye. It is said to represent the trunk of the elephant-god Ganesha.
U+17DD KHMER SIGN ATTHACAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
• mostly obsolete
• indicates that the base character is the final consonant of a word with its inherent vowel sound
→ (khmer sign viriam - 17D1)
Khmer mark
A rarely used sign that indicates that the consonant retains its inherent vowel sound.
Content first published 3 February, 2008. This version 2012-03-21 18:25 GMT
Copyright © 2008-2010 Richard Ishida, All Rights Reserved.
