Khmer Alphabet Table
| Letter | Foot | UNGEGN | Says (full value) | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ក | ្ក | kâ | [kɑː] | a-series |
| ខ | ្ខ | khâ | [kʰɑː] | a-series |
| គ | ្គ | kô | [kɔː] | o-series |
| ឃ | ្ឃ | khô | [kʰɔː] | o-series |
| ង | ្ង | ngô | [ŋɔː] | o-series |
| ច | ្ច | châ | [cɑː] | a-series |
| ឆ | ្ឆ | chhâ | [cʰɑː] | a-series |
| ជ | ្ជ | chô | [cɔː] | o-series |
| ឈ | ្ឈ | chhô | [cʰɔː] | o-series |
| ញ | ្ញ | nhô | [ɲɔː] | o-series |
| ដ | ្ដ | dâ | [ɗɑː] | a-series |
| ឋ | ្ឋ | thâ | [tʰɑː] | a-series |
| ឌ | ្ឌ | dô | [ɗɔː] | o-series |
| ឍ | ្ឍ | thô | [tʰɔː] | o-series |
| ណ | ្ណ | nâ | [nɑː] | a-series |
| ត | ្ត | tâ | [tɑː] | a-series |
| ថ | ្ថ | thâ | [tʰɑː] | a-series |
| ទ | ្ទ | tô | [tɔː] | o-series |
| ធ | ្ធ | thô | [tʰɔː] | o-series |
| ន | ្ន | nô | [nɔː] | o-series |
| ប | ្ប | bâ | [ɓɑː] - two-value: [ɓ] or [p] by register | a-series |
| ផ | ្ផ | phâ | [pʰɑː] | a-series |
| ព | ្ព | pô | [pɔː] | o-series |
| ភ | ្ភ | phô | [pʰɔː] | o-series |
| ម | ្ម | mô | [mɔː] | o-series |
| យ | ្យ | yô | [jɔː] | o-series |
| រ | ្រ | rô | [rɔː] | o-series |
| ល | ្ល | lâ | [lɑː] | a-series |
| វ | ្វ | vô | [ʋɔː] | o-series |
| ស | ្ស | sâ | [sɑː] | a-series |
| ហ | ្ហ | hâ | [hɑː] | a-series |
| ឡ | lâ | [lɑː] | a-series | |
| អ | ្អ | 'â | [ʔɑː] | a-series |
| Digit | Khmer | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | ០ | the shapes Thailand and Laos adopted for their own digits; large numbers group by threes with Western periods |
| 1 | ១ | |
| 2 | ២ | |
| 3 | ៣ | |
| 4 | ៤ | |
| 5 | ៥ | a second squared set (៰-) exists for divination lore, never for arithmetic |
| 6 | ៦ | |
| 7 | ៧ | |
| 8 | ៨ | |
| 9 | ៩ |
Khmer - the script of Cambodia, in continuous use since the 7th century - carries one of the largest consonant inventories in daily use anywhere: 35 letters historically, 33 in modern writing. But the system's real engine is smaller than the count suggests. Each consonant belongs to one of two series, conventionally called the a-series and the o-series after the inherent vowel it carries: ក is kâ (ka), គ is kô (ko) - same letter shape family, different built-in vowel. Every dependent vowel sign then reads two ways depending on which series the consonant belongs to, so the alphabet is really two parallel keyboards wearing one set of glyphs.
The script also writes clusters like almost no other: every consonant except ល (lâ) has a subscript form, called cheung aksar - "letter feet" - that stacks beneath the preceding consonant when two consonants meet without a vowel between them. Add digits that traveled the whole region (Khmer numerals are the ancestors of the shapes Thailand and Laos adopted), a second set of ten "divination" digits that were never for arithmetic, and loanword combos built for French gas and gare, and you have a script that wears its two thousand years of contact history on every line.
How to use
- Read the consonant table in pairs: each row shows the full letter, its subscript foot, the UNGEGN romanization with the inherent vowel spelled out (kâ, khâ, kô...), the sound, and its series. Sixteen letters are a-series (ក ខ ច ឆ ដ ឋ ណ ត ថ ប ផ ស ហ ឡ ល អ) and seventeen are o-series (គ ឃ ង ជ ឈ ញ ឌ ឍ ទ ធ ន ព ភ ម យ រ វ). Use the filter to drill one series at a time; the series, not the letter, decides every following vowel sign's sound.
- Watch the special cases. ប bâ is the single two-value letter ([ɓ] or [p] by register - the source table gives both). Superscript-looking pairs like ដ/ណ (ḍâ/nâ) and ត/ន are the retroflex and dental rows Sanskrit and Pali demanded. And the two retired letters ៝ and , Sanskrit-imported, no longer appear in modern text - which is why charts disagree on whether the count is 33 or 35.
- Meet the extras: ten supplementary consonant combos written for loanwords (ហ្គ hkâ for French gaz, ហ្គី for gare), and the numerals ០-៩ - familiar shapes across Thailand and Laos, whose own digits descend from the Khmer forms. Groups of three digits take Western-style periods in large numbers, and a separate set of ten divination digits (៰-) exists for fortune-telling lore, never for arithmetic.
Frequently asked questions
Why does every vowel sign have two pronunciations?
Because the vowel signs are neutral; the consonants carry the key. Khmer consonants split into an a-series, whose built-in vowel is â [ɑː], and an o-series, whose built-in vowel is ô [ɔː] - a split that began as the medieval voiceless/voiced contrast (the series are still called by those names in Khmer) before the voiced consonants devoiced and left only their vowel trails behind. Add a dependent vowel sign and it reads one way after an a-series consonant and another way after an o-series one: the sign ា is [aː] in the a-series but [iːə] in the o-series. One sign, two sounds, decided by the company it keeps - and that is also why consonant tables print the series membership so prominently: it is the single fact a learner must memorize per letter.
What are 'letter feet' (cheung aksar)?
Subscript consonants - the smaller forms tucked beneath a full-size letter when two consonants meet with no vowel between them. Every consonant except ល lâ has one, formed so systematically that Khmer writers see them as 'feet' (cheung aksar, ជើោងអក្សរ៊ី) walking under their parent letter. A word like 'school' stacks three letters tall in places. The feet are not optional decorations: a cluster's first consonant's series wins and controls the vowel, so reading a stacked cluster means reading feet first - bottom-up phonetics on top of left-to-right writing.
Is Khmer really the alphabet with the most letters?
It is in the conversation, with a nuance charts love to skip. Modern Khmer runs 33 consonant letters plus 23-ish dependent vowel signs plus 14 independent vowels plus its numerals - comfortably over 70 glyphs, which is why 'world's largest alphabet' headlines exist. But the count depends on dating: the historical consonant set was 35 (two Sanskrit-imported letters, ៝ and , are now obsolete), and the supplementary loanword combos push it further. Compare Georgian's 33 or Japanese kana's 46 basic and Khmer wins on raw glyph count - but the honest framing is 'largest everyday inventory', since many glyphs are the subscript feet and doubled pronunciations of one core system.
Why does Khmer have special letters for French words?
Colonial contact left spelling marks. Khmer had no native [g] in inherited vocabulary - the o-series letters cover g-flavored sounds - but French loans (gaz, gare) and Thai loans brought clusters Khmer orthography wanted to spell transparently. The solution was combinational: prenasalized stacks like ហ្គ ('hâ' + 'kô' read hkâ) spell [g], with a diacritic variant for the o-series twin. The source table even documents the canonical examples: ហ្គាស for gas 'fuel' and ហ្គីអារ for the train station gare. It is the same instinct that gave Japanese katakana rows for foreign sounds - scripts build extra seats when new guests keep arriving.
What are the divination digits for?
Exactly what they say: fortune-telling, not math. Unicode's Khmer block carries a second, squared-off set of ten digit shapes (៰៱៲៳៴៵៶៷៸៹) that traditional sources describe as 'numeric symbols for divination lore' - used to cast horoscopes and read fate charts, never for calculation. Everyday Khmer numbers (០-៩) handle everything practical, with three-digit grouping marked by Western periods in long numbers. The pair is a rare case of one script keeping two parallel numeral systems alive because one of them serves a different job entirely - and a warning to type designers who assume a script's digits are a single set.