Khmer Alphabet

The Khmer alphabet (kkhrKrm Khmra Phasa - អក្ខរក្រមខេមរភាសា) is used to write the Khmer language. It is also used to write a few other minority languages in Cambodia who have no form of script of their own. A notable feature of the Khmer alphabet is that it has fewer symbols for vowels than the language has vowel phonemes. Instead, each consonant belongs to one of two series, and the vowel produced depends on which series the consonant belongs to (incidentally making it an abugida rather than a true alphabet). Therefore, most vowels have two different possible pronunciations, depending on which series the consonant belongs to. When no vowel is present, usually the inherent vowel of the consonant is used. Vowels can be divided into two groups: dependent vowels, which depend on a consonant, and independent vowels, which can stand alone. Dependent vowels are used more frequently than independent vowels and all independent vowels can be phonetically rendered with a dependent vowel. Khmer also has a number of diacritics, which can change the series of the consonant or change the pronunciation of the vowel.

History

The Khmer alphabet descended from the Pallava script of India.

Styles

The Khmer script comes in many styles that are used for different purposes.
  • Aksar Moul (round letters; អ័ក្សរមូល) is used for shop signs, book titles, banners and such.
  • Aksar Chrung (square lettters; អ័ក្សរជ្រុង)
  • Aksar Chhor (standing letters; អ័ក្សរឈរ)
  • Aksar Ch'ieng (slanted letters; អ័ក្សរជ្អៀង)

Consonants

There are 35 consonants in the Khmer alphabet. Two of which are obsolete (shown in red).
 Consonants  Transcription  Unicode Name
 ក  k  KHMER LETTER KA
 ខ  kh  KHMER LETTER KHA
 គ  k  KHMER LETTER KO
 ឃ  kh  KHMER LETTER KHO
 ង  ng  KHMER LETTER NGO
 ច  ch  KHMER LETTER CA
 ឆ  chh  KHMER LETTER CHA
 ជ  ch  KHMER LETTER CO
 ឈ  chh  KHMER LETTER CHO
 ញ    KHMER LETTER NYO
 ដ  d  KHMER LETTER DA
 ឋ  th  KHMER LETTER TTHA
 ឌ  d  KHMER LETTER DO
 ឍ  th  KHMER LETTER TTHO
 ណ  n  KHMER LETTER NNO
 ត  t  KHMER LETTER TA
 ថ  th  KHMER LETTER THA
 ទ  t  KHMER LETTER TO
 ធ  th  KHMER LETTER THO
 ន  n  KHMER LETTER NO
 ប   b, p  KHMER LETTER BA
 ផ  ph  KHMER LETTER PHA
 ព  p  KHMER LETTER PO
 ភ  ph  KHMER LETTER PHO
 ម  m  KHMER LETTER MO
 យ  y  KHMER LETTER YO
 រ  r  KHMER LETTER RO
 ល  l  KHMER LETTER LO
 វ  v  KHMER LETTER VO
 ស  s  KHMER LETTER SA
 ឝ  obsolete  KHMER LETTER SHA
 ឞ  obsolete  KHMER LETTER SSO
 ហ  h  KHMER LETTER HA
 ឡ  l  KHMER LETTER LA
 អ   (glottal)  KHMER LETTER QA

Subscript Consonants

Commonly reffered to plainly as subscripts or sometimes sub-consonants they are known in Khmer as cheung ksr (also romanized as jeurng, coeng, joeng, etc.; in Khmer: ជើង​អ័ក្សរ) meaning the foot of a letter. Subscript consonants help form consonant clusters by cancelling the inherent vowel of the preceding consonant it's paired with. All consonants except for the Khmer letter L (ឡ) has a subscript form. Most subscript consonants are smaller versions of the consonants and appear under the consonant they are paired with. Other subscript consonants look very different and seem to have no relationship with their regular counterpart such as the ones for the Khmer letter Ng (ង្ង) and the Khmer letter Ch (ជ្ជ). Some appear after the consonant they are paired with such as the subscript consonant for the Khmer letter B (ប្ប)​. Only one subscript consonant appears before the consonant it's paired with and that is the subscript consonant for the Khmer letter R (រ្រ).
 Consonants  Transcription  Unicode Name
 ្ក  k  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KA
 ្ខ  kh  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KHA
 ្គ  k  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KO
 ្ឃ  kh  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KHO
 ្ង  ng  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER NGO
 ្ច  ch  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER CA
 ្ឆ  chh  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER CHA
 ្ជ  ch  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER CO
 ្ឈ  chh  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER CHO
 ្ញ    KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER NYO
 ្ដ  d  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER DA
 ្ឋ  th  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER TTHA
 ្ឌ  d  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER DO
 ្ឍ  th  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER TTHO
   ្ណ  n  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER NNO
 ្ត  t  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER TA
 ្ថ  th  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER THA
 ្ទ  t  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER TO
 ្ធ  th  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER THO
 ្ន  n  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER NO
 ្ប   b, p  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER BA
 ្ផ  ph  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER PHA
 ្ព  p  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER PO
 ្ភ  ph  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER PHO
 ្ម  m  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER MO
 ្យ  y  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER YO
 ្រ  r  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER RO
 ្ល  l  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER LO
 ្វ  v  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER VO
 ្ស  s  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER SA
 ្ឝ  obsolete  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER SHA
 ្ឞ  obsolete  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER SSO
 ្ហ  h  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER HA
 (n/a)  l  There is no subscript for the KHMER LETTER LA
 ្អ   (glottal)  KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER QA

Dependent Vowels

There are 23 official dependent vowels in Khmer. In Khmer they are known as srăk nissăy (ស្រៈនិស្ស័យ) or srăk phsm (ស្រៈផ្សំ). Dependent vowels always have to be combined, or paired with a consonant in writing. Just like the consonants, there are A-series and O-series vowels. Of the 23, 15 of the vowels have a different pronounciation in the O-series. Vowel pronounciation depends on the series of the consonant it is paired with.
 Vowels  Transcription  Unicode Name
 A-series  O-series
 ា  a  a  KHMER VOWEL SIGN AA
 ិ  ĕ  ĭ  KHMER VOWEL SIGN I
 ី  ei  i  KHMER VOWEL SIGN II
 ឹ  ŏe  ŏe  KHMER VOWEL SIGN Y
 ឺ      KHMER VOWEL SIGN YY
 ុ  ŏ  ŭ  KHMER VOWEL SIGN U
 ូ  o  u  KHMER VOWEL SIGN UU
 ួ  uŏ  uŏ  KHMER VOWEL SIGN UA
 ើ  aeu  eu  KHMER VOWEL SIGN OE
 ឿ  eua  eua  KHMER VOWEL SIGN YA
 ៀ  iĕ  iĕ  KHMER VOWEL SIGN IE
 េ      KHMER VOWEL SIGN E
 ែ      KHMER VOWEL SIGN AE
 ៃ  ai  ey  KHMER VOWEL SIGN AI
 ោ  a  oŭ  KHMER VOWEL SIGN OO
 ៅ  au  ŏu  KHMER VOWEL SIGN AU
 ុំ  om  ŭm  KHMER VOWEL SIGN U +
 KHMER SIGN NIKAHIT
 ំ  m  um  KHMER SIGN NIKAHIT
 ាំ  ăm  ŏm  KHMER VOWEL SIGN AA +
 KHMER SIGN NIKAHIT
 ះ  ăh  eăh  KHMER SIGN REAHMUK
 ុះ  ŏh  ŭh  KHMER VOWEL SIGN U +
 KHMER SIGN REAHMUK
 េះ  h  h  KHMER VOWEL SIGN E +
 KHMER SIGN REAHMUK
 ោះ  ah  ŏăh  KHMER VOWEL SIGN OO +
 KHMER SIGN REAHMUK

Independent Vowels

Independent Vowels are vowels that can be written without a consonant, hence the name. In Khmer they are called srăk penhtuŏ (ស្រៈពេញតួ) which means complete vowels.
 Vowels  Equivalent  Transcription  Unicode Name
 ឥ  អិ  ĕ  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QI
 ឦ  អី  ei  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QII
 ឧ  អុ  ŏ  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QU
 ឨ  អ៊ុ  ŭ  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QUK
 ឪ  អូវ  ov  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QUUV
 ឩ  អូ  o  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QUU
 ឯ  អេ, អែ   ,  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QE
 ឰ  អៃ  ai  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAI
 ឱ or ឲ  អោ  oŭ  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QOO
 ឳ  អៅ  au  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QAU

Consonant-Vowel Combinations

 Vowels  Equivalent  Transcription  Unicode Name
 ឫ  រឹ  rŏe  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL RY
 ឬ  រឺ  r  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL RYY
 ឭ  លឹ  lŏe  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL LY
 ឮ  លឺ  l  KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL LYY

Consonant Combinations

Despite the number of Khmer consonants, many of them are monotonous. The Khmer alphabet does not contain a few consonant that are found in English, like the letter f or z for example. These consonants occur mostly in loanwords.
 Consonant  Transcription  Unicode Name
 ហ្គ  g  KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KO
 ហ្គ៊  g  KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER KO + KHMER SIGN TRIISAP
 ហ្វ  f, or w  KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER VO
 ហ្វ៊  f, or w  KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER VO + KHMER SIGN TRIISAP
 ហ្ស    KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER SA
 ហ្ស៊    KHMER LETTER HA + KHMER SIGN COENG + KHMER LETTER SA + KHMER SIGN TRIISAP

Numerals

Khmer has its own set of numerals. Khmer numerals are very similar to Thai numerals, but have their own Khmer names. Arabic numerals are used to a lesser extent.
idth="70"|Khmer Numerals width="30"|០ width="30"|១ width="30"|២ width="30"|៣ width="30"|៤ width="30"|៥ width="30"|៦ width="30"|៧ width="30"|៨ width="30"|៩
idth="100"|Arabic Numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Khmer in Unicode

nbsp;   style="font-size:40%"|0 style="font-size:40%"|1 style="font-size:40%"|2 style="font-size:40%"|3 style="font-size:40%"|4 style="font-size:40%"|5 style="font-size:40%"|6 style="font-size:40%"|7 style="font-size:40%"|8 style="font-size:40%"|9 style="font-size:40%"|A style="font-size:40%"|B style="font-size:40%"|C style="font-size:40%"|D style="font-size:40%"|E style="font-size:40%"|F
tyle="font-size:40%"|1780   ក ខ គ ឃ ង ច ឆ ជ ឈ ញ ដ ឋ ឌ ឍ ណ ត
tyle="font-size:40%"|1790   ថ ទ ធ ន ប ផ ព ភ ម យ រ ល វ ឝ ឞ ស
tyle="font-size:40%"|17A0   ហ ឡ អ ឣ ឤ ឥ ឦ ឧ ឨ ឩ ឪ ឫ ឬ ឭ ឮ ឯ
tyle="font-size:40%"|17B0   ឰ ឱ ឲ ឳ ឴ ឵ ា ិ ី ឹ ឺ ុ ូ ួ ើ ឿ
tyle="font-size:40%"|17C0   ៀ េ ែ ៃ ោ ៅ ំ ះ ៈ ៉ ៊ ់ ៌ ៍ ៎ ៏
tyle="font-size:40%"|17D0   ័ ៑ ្ ៓ ។ ៕ ៖ ៗ ៘ ៙ ៚ ៛ ៜ ៝ ៞ ៟
tyle="font-size:40%"|17E0   ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩ ៪ ៫ ៬ ៭ ៮ ៯
tyle="font-size:40%"|17F0   ៰ ៱ ៲ ៳ ៴ ៵ ៶ ៷ ៸ ៹ ៺ ៻ ៼ ៽ ៾ ៿

See also

External links

 

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